Merlin Haunted House
by Speedy Hobbit
Summary: Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the students in their year take a field trip to a wizardstyle amusement park ride... and the trip goes horribly wrong. AU, written preOotP
1. Preliminary preparation

Author's note: It's been a while, but I'm posting another ficcy! Bwa ha ha ha! I've got no clue why I'm even doing this one. I suck at writing! Okay, okay, this is reposting. I'm editing a lot of stuff. Check out my RPG! (www.geocities.com/triciaoftfbs/raspberry_rpg) The admins outnumber the players at the moment, which is not good at all. If you have any questions, then e-mail me at sugaluvinchicCA@yahoo.com.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Don't sue, I don't have any money at the moment, I spent it all at the mall!  
  
  
  
"Well, ladies and germs, off you trot to bed, except fifth years. Chop, chop," said Albus Dumbledore to the great hall. It was Friday, October 13th.  
  
"I wonder what he wants," whispered Harry Potter to his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.  
  
"I don't know, but Fred and George said we're gonna like it," said Ron. "But they didn't tell me why. Said Dumbledore wants it to be a big, big, biggy surprise. For fifth years only."  
  
"Oooh, I wonder what it could be," said Lavender Brown to her friends Parvati Patil and Callie Roberts, who were across from Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  
  
"Maybe it's a trip to Hogsmeade," Callie said.  
  
"Perhaps it's a dance," Emmy Monet called hopefully to her boyfriend, Ernie Macmillan, who was a Hufflepuff.  
  
"Seamus, if it's a dance, will you go with me?" Lavender asked, giggling.  
  
"Of course," said Seamus Finnegan. Lavender, Parvati, and Callie all giggled.  
  
"I want to go with Draco Malfoy," said Callie, a little too loudly.  
  
"Callie, he's a Slytherin," Hermione said, horrified.  
  
"Well, Hermione, he's so hot, and besides, I like bad boys," Callie retorted, as she stared at Draco. His silvery blonde hair and eyes were gorgeous!  
  
"I hope it isn't a dance," moaned Harry, remembering the Yule Ball.  
  
"But everyone would love to go with you," Ron joked. Harry blushed to the roots of his very untidy black hair, embarassed. Many girls had asked him, just because he was a champion. Many girls, exceopt the one he wanted... Cho Chang.  
  
"I wouldn't like to go with Eloise Midgen," Dean cracked. Hermione glared at him, enraged by his insulting her.  
  
"Not funny, Dean," she said scathingly. Eloise was a chubby Ravenclaw with a face full of zits, but they weren't as bad as they used to be. Besides, Hermione viewed as a sweet, caring, sensitive person. So what if she wasn't gorgeous?  
  
" Settle down, settle down, you can get excited later," said Dumbledore patiently. Everybody settled down. "The fifth years get to take a very special, thrilling field trip. A little bit of fun before the brutal studying for the O.W.L.s."  
  
"I hope it isn't educational," Seamus said, making a face.  
  
"You are all going to have the time of your lives," Dumbledore said. He got quiet, smiling at Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Gemma Tack, Allison Mitton, and Rebecca Fawcett, who were whispering together. Everybody turned to look at the five girls.  
  
"You students get to go to a haunted house. But it isn't any haunted house. You all have to work together to get through it. The trip will last for six days. Four of those days, each day, a group of ten will go through the haunted house. It will be an alphabetical thing, and each group will either be all girls, or all boys." There was a loud groan at that announcement. "There is a list of the groups outside the Great Hall. You all can go look at it now, then return for more instructions." There was a loud ruckus of scrambling as all the fifth years went out into the Entrance Hall to look at the list.  
  
  
  
Group 1 1. Allison Mitton 2. Emmy Monet 3. Anthony Nott 4. Pansy Parkinson 5. Padma Patil 6. Parvati Patil 7. Aria Perks 8. Callie Roberts 9. Gemma Tack 10. Lisa Tupin Group 2 1. Hannah Abbott 2. Susan Bones 3. Mandy Brocklehurst 4. Lavender Brown 5. Millicent Bulstrode 6. Kendra Eades 7. Rebecca Fawcett 8. Hermione Granger 9. Kelly Haverty 10. Eloise Midgen Group 3 1. Terry Boot 2. Vincent Crabb 3. Evan DeLisio 4. Justin Finch-Fletchely 5. Seamus Finnegan 6. Liam Fugerson 7. Gregory Goyle 8. Michael Ivans 9. Simon Katz 10. Neville Longbottom Group 4 1. Ernie Macmillan 2. Draca Malfoy 3. Chuck Moon 4. Harry Potter 5. Matthew Stebbins 6. Patrick Summers 7. Logan Svackinetowicz 8. Dean Thomas 9. Ron Wesley 10. Blaise Zabini  
  
"All, right, Ron, we're together!" Harry cheered.  
  
"It's too bad Hermione isn't with us," said Ron wistfully.  
  
"Oh, man," Millie Bulstrode groaned. "I'm with four Hufflepuffs and Eloise Midgen."  
  
"That really stinks," said Allison Mitton sympathetically, patting Bulstrode on her square, bulky shoulder.  
  
"Those two are jerks," said Hermione, scowling with a look of loathing. Ron and Harry stared.  
  
"That's really out of character for you," said Harry, looking dumbfounded.  
  
"Oih, really," said Hermione, bristling. "Are you saying I don't stick up for others?"  
  
"No, but you never call people jerks," said Ron.  
  
Hermione quickly changed the subject. "Let's go back in. I'm glad Lavender, at least, is in my group, even if she is a bit of, well, an airhead, to put it very bluntly. And Kendra Eades is in my group."  
  
"Who is Kendra Eades?" asked Ron, wondering who the girl was who went with this unfamiliar name.  
  
"Kendra Eades is a Hufflepuff in our year," said Hermione. "She is the same size as Harry, has curly brown hair, gray eyes, and her hair is down to her shoulders." She nodded over at a girl fitting the description, who was chatting with a skinny, surly-looking black-haired girl who was shrieking, "My name is Antonia, or TONI! I'm a freaking girl!"  
  
Everybody else went into the Great Hall. And Dumbledore began to talk again, after handing out lists, of group statistics. Hermione began to pore over the list, reading the details on those in her group. Name, Hair Color/length/texture, eyes, height, weight, freckles? Glasses? Hannah, blonde/chest/straight,blue, 5'2", 112 Susan, red/shoulder/wavy, green, 5'0", 103, freckles Mandy, brown/chest/straight, brown, 5'5", 128, glasses Lavender, blonde//waist/wavy, blue gray, 4'10", 91, freckles Millicent, black/shoulder/straight, brown, 5'9", 161 Kendra, brown/shoulder/curly, dark gray, 5'4" 120 Rebecca, blonde/chin/straight, green, 5'3", 119, freckles Hermione, brown/chest/curly, brown, 5'7", 126 Kelly, sandy/hip/wavy, hazel, 5'4" 109 Eloise, dark blonde/chin/straight, brown, 5'3" ,141, freckles, glasses  
  
"Daag, Eloise, you are huge," said Millicent. "HEY, EVERYBODY, ELOISE WEIGHS 141 POUNDS AND IS ONLY 5'3"!!!!!" All the Slytherins began to laugh. Eloise turned beet red.  
  
"HEY EVERYONE!" yelled Mandy, who was a Ravenclaw like Eloise, "MILLICENT WEIGHS 161 POUNDS. HER WEIGHT MAKES ELOISE LOOK ANOREXIC!" Everybody except the Slytherins laughed this time. Millie looked outraged, especuially since she knew her weight was okay for a person of her height. The audacity of that Ravenclaw Brocklehurst! 141 really was overweight for someone of Eloise's height, but not 161 for Millicent.  
  
"Okay, students," said Dumbledore. "Group 1 goes first, then group 2, then 3, then 4. Usually it's men first, but this time it's ladies first."  
  
"I just realized something," said Ron. "Whoever made the lists spelled my name, and Malfoy's, Crabbe's, and Justin's names wrong. He put-a - a girl's name for Malfoy," he snickered. Harry, and Hermione laughed. "Oh, man. This is too funny"  
  
"I guess I'll introduce you guys to Kendra in Herbology," said Hermione.  
  
"I know who you're talking about," said Harry.  
  
Two days later, it was Herbology. Kendra Eades was talking to Aria Perks and Kelly Haverty. "Kendra!" Hermione said.  
  
"Yeah?" said Kendra.  
  
"Come here," said Hermione. "I've never introduced you to Ron and Harry." Kendra walked over, her brown curls bouncing like ping-pong balls on her shoulder.  
  
"Okay, Kendra. The black-haired one the same size as you is Harry, and the redhead is Ron. Harry and Ron, this crazy person is Kendra Eades," said Hermione. Thankfully, Harry thought, Kendra isn't gawking at my scar. He liked the girl already, for the one thing she was doing.. or rather, wasn't doing. "Do you want to work with us?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Sure," said Kendra, pushing a handful of curls over her shoulder. Her eyes remind me of Cedric Diggory's," Harry thought sadly, the briefest of nostalgic expressions crossing his face.  
  
"Herbology is my favorite class," said Kendra with a grin. "Except last year, with the bubotubers, that was gross. Reminded my of the lunch at my old school." Kendra grinned again.  
  
"You're Muggle-born?" asked Harry.He was liking her more and more, Kendra seemed to be a very funny, friendly type.  
  
"Yup," said Kendra. "I have a bratty 10 year old brother named Jared. At my old school, the scrambled eggs bounced. They served "scrambled eggs" for lunch. Can you believe that? I think I'm permanently traumatrized by that stuff! Thank goodness Hogwarts has good food."  
  
"I think all Muggle schools serve gross stuff, which they call food," said Hermione matter-of-factly, thinking it probably had something to do with the cooks having to serve a large number of students at once, in the time span of 40 minutes.  
  
"My mom made me get the school lunch. She claim's it is more nutritious," Kendra said, rolling her smoky gray eyes with mirth.  
  
"How can something be nutritious if you can't eat it?" joked Harry. Ron, Kendra, and Hermione laughed.  
  
"That's exactly what I'd say to my parents whenever they lectured me about wasting food! I always threw that crap out!" Kendra said. That was a perfectly reasonable arguement, about inedible food not being truly nutritious, but her parents had never bought that. Nothing would convince them to stop making Kendra buy her lunch.  
  
"I feel left out. I've never been to a Muggle school," Ron said sadly.  
  
"Oh, you didn't miss much," said Harry, remembering that unpleasant era in his life. He didn't have any Muggle friends, because Dudley had been such a terrible bully that the entirety of the student body didn't dare to befriend Harry.  
  
A couple of weeks later, it was time to leave for the Merlin Haunted House. There were four flying carts, one for each group, for planning. As each group went, then they had to be seperated from those that didn't go. Hermione and Kendra shared a seat.  
  
"Okay, girls," said Professor sprout, who was on the carriage. "I am going to hand out a sheet and you have to say what you are bringing to the haunted house. I hope you all brought your waterproof jeans and sweatshirts, and your caps. Our robes and pointy hats aren't good for the haunted house. And I hope you all got your names and Houses printed on the shirts." She handed out a piece of paper.  
  
Kendra: I'm bringing a scrunchie, perfume, and my rock collection. Hermione: I'm bringing the Monster Book of Monsters, Halloween Creatures, and All About the Merlin Haunted House. Hannah: Hairspray, hairbrush, makeup kit. Susan: Young Witch magazine, Witch Weekly, Teenage Witch newsletter. Mandy: Monster book of Monsters, brush, a wizard radio. Lavender: styling gel, makeup, makeup remover. Millie: cat, box of spiders, spider food. Rebecca: life jacket, rope, rock collection. Kelly: diary, mirror, air freshener. Eloise: acne medication, gigantic pearl necklace, flashlight.  
  
"Hhm, interesting things," Kelly commented.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Kendra. "Air freshener?" Kelly shrugged. "I like things to smell good. And you're bringing perfume."  
  
"You've got a point," said Kendra. The next day, the whole throng of fifth years stood in front of the massive haunted house. Group 1 was clad in identical sweatshirts, jeans, hats, and sneakers.  
  
"Okay, people," said McGonagall. "You may enter in pairs." Allison and Pansy entered first, and immediately screamed. Then Gemma and Toni entered. They screamed too. Aria and Callie did the same, and so did Emmy and Parvati, and Lisa and Padma.  
  
"I do hope nothing too horrible is in there," Hermione commented to Harry, Ron, and Kendra anxiously. They nodded in agreement.  
  
The next day was the day of truth. It was time for Group 2.  
  
"Nervous?" Kendra asked Hermione. Hermione nodded. Everybody else entered: Hannah and Susan, Lavender and Kelly, Millie and Eloise (to Millie's disgust), and Rebecca and Mandy.  
  
"Ready?" said Hermione.  
  
"Yeah," said Kendra. Clutching hands, the two friends entered and instantaneously let out long, continuous screams of horror. 


	2. Haunted House Capers

Author's Note: Oh, yeah, I'm torturing everyone with another chapter to MHH ~^_^~ Okay, I run this RPG, which is a futuristic Hogwarts one. The page is at www.geocities.com/triciaoftfbs/raspberry_rpg . If you have any more questions about it than what I post on the page, e-mail me at sugaluvinchicCA@yahoo.com  
  
Disclaimer: Anybody appearing in the hP books doesn't belong to me. After Kendra and Hermione's group entered the haunted house, Harry and Ron were talking in their hotel room. Harry was astonished that wizards have hotels, too. He wondered where group one was. They did not return to the hotel the previous night.  
  
"I wonder how Kendra and Hermione are doing?" said Harry.  
  
"Hopefully Hermione isn't too scared," said Ron.  
  
"What about. uh oh, Ro-on" said Harry with a huge grin on his face. Ron turned beet red. "You like Hermione, don't you."  
  
"Well, you like Kendra," Ron accused. It was Harry's turn to blush.  
  
"As a friend," said Harry.  
  
"Uh huh," said Ron. "I've seen you around her."  
  
Just then, Professor Snape entered the room. "Potter, Weasley, come with me!" he barked. Draco Malfoy began to laugh. "You two are in trouble," he laughed. Harry and Ron ignored him. "Come with me," Snape repeated menacingly.  
  
Kendra and Hermione were plummeting a very long distance, along with the rest of their group. It was pitch black. Their screams of terror rang in their ears.  
  
Suddenly, they slowed down, as if they were wearing parachutes that wouldn't open. Further down, Mandy Brocklehurst groped for her CD player. A wizarding one, of course. Mandy turned it on. Somehow, the whole group landed at the same time. Mandy's CD skipped to two songs later. "My thing skipped like you wouldn't believe," Mandy commented to nobody in particular.  
  
"No, duh" said Kendra and Kelly at the same time.  
  
"Jinx," they said at the same time. The whole group, except for a scowling Millie, giggled. Suddenly, Hermione gave a surprised gasp as she looked behind her. There were 5 chair-like things big enough to hold 2 people. Each girl got with the partner she entered the haunted house with, and each pair tentatively sat on a chair. Kendra and Hermione suddenly gave surprised yells as their chair shot forward at about 100 mph, straight toward the wall.  
  
"We're going to crash!" Kelly yelled, losing her head completely.  
  
"HEEEEEELPPPP!!!" all the girls hollered.  
  
"We're gonna die!" Lavender shouted hopelessly.  
  
"That's why the others never showed!" Susan added.  
  
"We're not gonna crash," Hermione assured them.  
  
"Yes we are, Miss Know-it-all," Hannah disagreed. Hermione was right. The wall disappeared when the first chair, containing Kelly and Lavender, was a foot away. When the last chair, with Kendra and Hermione went through, the wall reappeared. There was a collective sigh of relief.  
  
"See, we didn't die," said Hermione.  
  
"Oh, shut up," Hannah said.  
  
"Oh, MY GOD" Susan yelled, startled.  
  
"What is it?" asked Eloise. Susan ignored her.  
  
"TIDAL WAVE!" shouted a horrified Mandy. She was white. A huge mound of water came crashing at them all.  
  
"EEK!" all the girls shouted. At that, the lights went out.  
  
"Oh, no" moaned Hermione. " Dumbledore wouldn't hurt us. would he?"  
  
"Of course not," said Kendra's voice with a forced cheerfulness. Then the lights came back on, lime green"  
  
"Eew," said Lavender. "I hate lime green."  
  
"Me too," said Kelly, nodding with agreement with her friend. The huge wave came crashing down on the group. The chairs rose to the surface and changed to boats so small that the partners mashed together like Siamese twins.  
  
"Oh!" cried Eloise, startled. The others paid her no heed whatsoever. Eloise felt her face turn beet red. She hated, hated being ignored by everybody. Except of course, when they were dissing her behind her back. She hated going to Hogwarts, too. Millie was treating her as if she had a bad, really contagious disease. But Millie had no friends in the group, either. All the other Slytherin girls, save Rebecca, were towards the end of the alphabet, and Rebecca just didn't act like a Slytherin. Millie disliked Rebecca and vice versa, although they did sometimes unite in insulting Eloise. Eloise felt like if something happened to her, nobody would care. They'd be happy, thought Eloise hopelessly, the throes fo an unexplainable feeling suddenly gripping her.  
  
The group drifted in silence for about half an hour.  
  
"Is anything gonna happen already? This is boring," Millie complained, punching the side of her minute boat with frustration.  
  
"Millie's right," said Lavender, not pleased to be saying those mere two words.  
  
At Millie's words, Kendra glanced behind her. Her eyes widened with horror. "Those are real," she said with utmost terror on her white face.  
  
"What?" said Hermione, glancing behind her. "Oh, my lord. AIIIIIIIII!" Lavender, Kelly, Eloise, Millie, Mandy, Susan, Hannah, and Rebecca (who had been very quiet) all glanced behind them at the shouts of Hermione and Kendra.  
  
"SHARKS!" Rebecca cried with an expression of realization at her etiolating face. Kendra and Hermione were glancing at one another, white-faced. Suddenly the pair felt a horrible jolt. A shark had come up under their boat. The boat tipped, and Kendra Eades and Hermione Granger fell into the swirling water. They were immediately surrounded by sharks who were snapping at them. 


	3. A discovery

MAuthor's note: You can email me with ideas for disclaimers at sugaluvinchicCA@yahoo.com sugaluvinchicCA@yahoo.com Also, check out my futuristic Hogwarts RPG? (www.geocities.com/triciaoftfbs/raspberry_rpg) I really am in desperate need of more players. The admins outnumber the players, which isn't good at all. Disclaimer: the usual.  
  
"Come with me, boys," said Snape, moving like an extra-large bat. Ron and Harry exchanged worried glances. What does he want? Harry thought. He hadn't done anything lately. Had he?  
  
"Come in here," Snape said, leading them into a small room. Harry and Ron entered, standing nervously.  
  
Obviously Snape didn't think Hermione did anything, or he wouldn't have waited till that day for sure.  
  
"You two are becoming friends with that girl Kendra Eades, are you?" Snape queried.  
  
"Um, yeah," said Harry, confused and not pleased to hear his friend referred to as "that girl."  
  
"You aren't telling her information about our, er, alliance against You- Know-Who, are you?" Snape asked, glancing at Ron.  
  
"No. Not yet," said Ron.  
  
"Don't tell her. Not if you don't want things to get ruined," Snape cautioned.  
  
"Why not?" asked Harry, very intrigued.  
  
"Do you both really want to know?" barked Snape. "And Potter, don't ask stupid questions!" he said loudly. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "People can't notice me treating you differently."  
  
"Yes, we want to know," said Ron, speaking for both of the boys.  
  
"All right," sighed Snape. "Kendra's mother is a Squib. That is why she can call herself a muggle-born."  
  
"So?" said Harry.  
  
"Don't be rude. 2 points from Gryffindor," snapped Snape. "Kendra has an uncle named Davus Nott. Are you following me?"  
  
Harry's mouth dropped open. "You don't mean."  
  
"Yes, I do," said Snape. Ron had gone white. "Kendra is related to Antonia Nott, in Ravenclaw."  
  
"And?" prompted Ron, dreading the answer.  
  
"Kendra is related to a death eater." Snape confirmed. Harry gasped. It couldn't be. It couldn't. Kendra was too nice. Why didn't she say anything? Why had she lied and said she was Muggle-born? Why should he trust Kendra Eades, that little liar. No. He wouldn't trust her.  
  
"Now, your friend Kendra might be all right, but her uncle isn't. she might let something slip. I'm not saying not to be friends with Kendra. Just don't tell of our alliance," Snape cautioned. "You may go now." The two horrified boys left. "I can't believe Kendra lied to us," said Ron after a while.  
  
"Why did she say she was muggle-born? Why didn't she say that she has a Squib for a mother?" Harry wondered. Ron shrugged.  
  
"Friendship is on trust," Ron said. "We can't trust Kendra."  
  
"Should we stop being friends with Kendra? After all, she has a legitimate excuse. she's probably embarrassed to be related to a Death Eater." Said harry  
  
"I tend to doubt it," said Ron.  
  
"Maybe you're right," said Harry.  
  
"Kendra! Hermione!" cried a frightened Lavender.  
  
"oh, bad, oh bad, oh, bad," Mandy was saying over and over. The groupmates of Kendra and Hermione were panicking. Suddenly, Mandy seemed to get an idea. She told Rebecca to begin wiggling and jerking in the direction of Hermione and Kendra. "harder! Harder!" she urged her friend. Slowly, the boat began to move in the direction of the seemingly doomed partners. Finally they reached Kendra and Hermione.  
  
"They're mechanical, you morons," Millie said suddenly, when she realized the sharks were circling over and over. Millie was right. As soon as the words came out the sharks disappeared. The water began to swirl, and all ten girls were sucked under water. 


	4. More Haunted House

Author's note: I'm not sure where I left off. If you are confused at the beginning and it seems that I missed a large chunk of the story, please tell me, kaysers? Oh, I changed Danielle Fawcett's name to Rebecca Fawcett, and Donna Nott's name to Tina Nott. Tell me if I forgot to change and Danielle to Rebecca or any Donna to Tina, okay? Thanks. You can e-mail me with suggestions at sugaluvinchicCA@yahoo.com mailto:sugaluvinchicCA@yahoo.com Group 2 landed on the second floor, going down, with a terrific thump. Nothing happened for a while.  
  
"This is so stupid!" said Millie. "I'm dying of boredom here!"  
  
"And you're torturing us by complaining," muttered Lavender Brown.  
  
"Excuse me?" said Millie, in a very cold voice, "what did you say, you Gryffindor moron?"  
  
"Nothing," said Lavender.  
  
"Yes, you said something, and you better repeat it, before I knock your block off," Millie said.  
  
"She didn't say anything!" Kelly defended her friend.  
  
"Oh, really, Haverty?" said Millie. "Maybe I'll knock your block off, too."  
  
"Leave them alone, Millicent," said Kendra quietly.  
  
"And if I don't, Hufflepuff Eades?" said Mille. Kendra dragged Millicent apart from the others, with surprising strength for a girl who was five inches shorter than Millie, and about 40 pounds lighter.  
  
"What are you playing at, Eades?" Millie asked Kendra nervously. "Do you want me to tell about."  
  
"You better not," said Kendra. "Don't forget what I have against you."  
  
"You wouldn't." said Millie.  
  
"Yes, I will tell, if you bug Lavender, Kelly, or anyone," Kendra threatened. "And you wouldn't want people to know that you put a certain poison in a certain Ravenclaw's drink, would you?"  
  
Millie blanched. "This is blackmail," she hissed.  
  
Kendra shrugged. "Yeah, well you're always trying to blackmail people, right? Well, two can play that game. Now leave everyone alone."  
  
"Okay, okay," said Millie bitterly.  
  
"Hey, there's a note," said Rebecca suddenly. All the girls rushed over to read the note.  
  
Dear group 2, For this floor, divide into two groups of three, and one group of four. You may need your wands. The largest group, go through the red door. The others go through the blue and the green. Professor Dumbledore.  
  
"Okay, who goes with who?" said Kelly.  
  
"I'm not going with Eloise," said Millie, shooting a cold look at Eloise. Kendra cleared her throat, and Millie desisted. Kendra glared at Millie.  
  
"I'd better go with you for this next one," said Kendra, going to stand next to the furious Slytherin.  
  
"I'll go with you two," said Rebecca, joining them. "I'll keep Kendra company."  
  
"Yes, Kendra needs protection, doesn't she? Talk about a disgrace to Slytherin, though... really, Becky." taunted Millie.  
  
"Shut up, Millicent," said Rebecca.  
  
"A Hufflepuff told me to shut up? Can you imagine that?" said Millie, smirking.  
  
"I'm a Slytherin, you idiot," said Rebecca.  
  
"Slytherin, ha! You're a disgrace to our house. You should be in Ravenclaw, maybe, because you're frikkin smart and Ravenclaws are jerks, too," added Millie. "And Hufflepuffs, and especially Gryffindors. Hey, Lavender, Herminoe, you'rre being very quiet. Not feeling so brave now, huh, Brown?"  
  
"Don't tick me off," said Kendra quietly. "Remember what I have against you."  
  
Millie got quiet. "Jeez, I can't stand her, even if she is in my house." Rebecca muttered to Kendra. "What do you have on her?" "I'm not telling," said Kendra. "She has something on me as well. I'm not telling!" said Kendra, accurately interpreting Rebecca's expression. Besides, Rebecca was a Slytherin and possessed the tendency to gossip. The story would get back to Millicent in no time. The other girls divided into a group of four and one of three. Hermione was in the group of four.  
  
"See ya, peoples," said Mandy as her group went through the green door. As she went through, she shot Rebecca and Kendra sympathetic looks. Kendra's group went through the blue door.  
  
"Well, let's go, then," said Kelly. The group of four went through the red door.  
  
"Okay? What the heck is this?" said Lavender. "There is nothing here! EEEW! This room is painted lime green. All lime green! I think I'm gonna hurl!"  
  
"I can't stand lime green!" griped Kelly.  
  
"I love the color lime green," said Susan with complete honesty.  
  
"You are insane!" said Kelly.  
  
"Your face is turning lime green," laughed Lavender.  
  
"It is not!" said Kelly.  
  
"Yes, it is," confirmed Hermione. Kelly's face was a little green.  
  
"Well, as we all know Hermione is the most honest person on the planet, that settles that," said Lavender, drawing herself up to her full height of 4'10".  
  
Kelly laughed. "Shortie! You and Parvati make a good pair. Parvati and her twin are only 5 feet nothing."  
  
"I'm not as short as Simon Katz or that fourth year Colin Creevey," Lavender argued.  
  
"Colin can pass for a five year old!" giggled Susan. I'm betting he is only 4'3", or shorter!"  
  
"Sue, you go out with Simon. You two are a weird pair! Well, not really, you're the same size as Parvati, but how tall is Simon?" asked Kelly.  
  
"4'8 ½ said Susan.  
  
"A four inch difference! Only four inches!" giggled Susan. She opened the door. Four things came out that made all the girls scream.  
  
Later, the girls were on the third floor with the other two groups. Dumbledore had left another note.  
  
Dear group 2, Divide yourselves into two groups of five, and then in the two groups, all the girls must claps hands in a circle, and start spinning. Professor Dumbledore  
  
"Okay, I guess we should keep switching partners," said Hermione. "how about I go with Hannah, Susan, Kendra, and Kelly, and the rest of you go together?"  
  
"Herm, if it weren't for the fact thaty we can't figure out who to go with, I'd get really annoyed at you being so bossy," said Lavender bluntly.  
  
"Sorry," said Hermione, shrugging. She grabbed the hands of Kendra and Susan. Hannah and Kelly joined the circle. The other group did the same thing. Both groups began to spin around and around. Hermione's mouth dropped open as the other group and the room vanished.  
  
Hermione's group found themselves in a dimly and eerily lit room. 


	5. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Author's note: Yeah, I'm rushing this, but I wanna get to the exciting part! Oh, if you want to join the TFBs, e-mail me at hpiscool@hotmail.com mailto:hpiscool@hotmail.com (preferably), yammermouse@yahoo.com mailto:yammermouse@yahoo.com, or triciaperks@teenmag.com mailto:triciaperks@teenmag.com to tell me. I need members. That is why I skipped a couple of floors. Oh, I need disclaimer suggestions, since mine are soooo totally boring. Kind of like the ruler unit I had in technology, he-llo, we're 8th graders, we've known how to use rulers since like, preschool. And I'm making some people OOC to suit the story. Disclaimer: I don't own anything found in the HP books, blah blah blah.  
  
  
  
"It's like, lunchtime," Millie complained to Hermione as they entered the sixth floor. "Past lunchtime," she added, checking her green watch. "When do we get to eat? I'm hungry." They entered a small room with ten chairs and a table.  
  
"I think we get lunch here," Hermione said, trying not to get too annoyed at Millie. Only another pair was there: Rebecca and Hannah.  
  
"Hey, guys," Rebecca said, trying her best to get a bunch of green goop out of her blonde hair.  
  
"You need your wand for that," said Hemione, pulling out her own wand and making the green goop disappear.  
  
"You know, for a bossy know-it-all, you aren't so bad," Hannah told Hermione. Hermione overlooked the bossy know-it-all part, being in a good mood. Besides, Hermione was really lightening up.  
  
"Hey, peoples." Susan and Lavender had entered. Of this pair, Lavender had bright orange goop in her really light blonde hair.  
  
"Hermione," whined Lavender, "can you please get this horrible stuff out of my hair? Why'd one of each pair have to put goop in her hair anyway? It's so gross."  
  
"For light. Remember, we had to hop from column to column in the dark. And there can't be people falling," explained Hermione.  
  
"I know, I hated having it in my hair, too." She removed the orange stuff from Lavender's hair. Then Mandy and Kelly entered.  
  
"Oh, and Lavender," Hermione added slyly, "the goop I got in my hair was lime green."  
  
"UGH! GROSS!" cried Lavender, horrified at the thought. Hermione and Millie laughed.  
  
"I'm kidding," said Hermione. "I had pink stuff in my hair."  
  
"Not funny," said Lavender, pouting.  
  
"Um, Hermione?" said Mandy.  
  
"Let me guess. You want me to get that horrible, very dark yellow-gray-pink stuff out of your hair?" Hermione said.  
  
"I didn't know that color even existed, it's so incredibly ugly," said Susan.  
  
"Me, either," muttered Hermione, before getting rid of the disgusting stuff and turning Mandy's hair back to brown.  
  
"Where are Kendra and Eloise? We can't eat before they come," said Rebecca. "And the letter evaporated as soon as Hannah and I read it."  
  
"Guess we just have to wait for those two slowpoke losers," Millie muttered.  
  
"Gee, thanks a lot Millie," Kendra said from behind Millie. Millie blushed to the roots of her black hair, looking embarrassed.  
  
"Now we're all supposed to sit down, five on each side," said Hannah.  
  
"Who do you think you are, a teacher?" Millie said.  
  
"Well, Blubber," said Hannah, ignoring the fact that Millie was about half a foot taller, as well as being about 50 pounds heavier,  
  
"I know how much you love to eat, so sit down and you get your food."  
  
"Who do you think you're talking to, you censored Hufflepuff?" Millie bellowed.  
  
Kendra caught Millie's eye, and mouthed "Our agreement." Millie backed off, and sat down. Kendra sat next to her, and  
  
Hermione sat on Kendra's other side. When everyone was seated, food appeared. It was heroes, about a foot long for each person.  
  
"Daag, this is mad long," Millie said. "YUMMY! I LOVE FOOD!" Kendra exchanged a smirk with Hermione. "Bologna, ham, olive roast, and roast beef! I love those! and cheese!"  
  
"I'm gonna take the ham off mine. I hate ham," Kendra said.  
  
"Millie, do you want it?"  
  
"Sure!" Millie said, greedly grabbing it from Kendra. Everyone else took off the stuf they hated, until Millie had a huge pile of detested foods on her plate. Millie had a huge grin on her tanned face.  
  
"Hey, there are good!" Kendra said when she had finished hers. When Lavender, the slowest eater, had finished, ice cream sundaes appeared. Kendra's had caramel, peanut butter, hot fudge, peanuts, m&M's and a heck of a lot of other stuff. Kendra's stomach growled, although she had just eaten.  
  
"This looks great," Kendra said happily as she began to gobble up her sundae at hyper speed. The others did that also. When all ten girls had finished eating, another note appeared. It said to pair off. Kendra joined Susan Bones, and Hermione joined Rebecca Fawcett. Then they set off for the 7th floor.  
  
"What do you suppose we'll be doing?" Susan wondered.  
  
Kendra shrugged. "Don't ask." She took out her scrunchie and put her curly brown hair into a ponytail.  
  
"You know, Kendra," said Susan slyly, "I think Harry likes you. As in likes you."  
  
"Really?" squeaked Kendra, her tanned face going crimson.  
  
"You like him too." Kendra nodded. "Kendra, I should set you two up. That would be so cool."  
  
"I guess," said Kendra. "But he likes this fifth year Ravenclaw."  
  
"You mean Cho Chang?" Susan said with distaste. "That flirt? And that's the nice way to put it. You are so much better than that little midget. I think even Lavender is taller than Cho."  
  
"Thanks, Susan," Kendra said, smiling at her friend. Would Susan still be Kendra's friend if she knew Kendra's secret? Would anybody? Well, maybe a Slytherin or any Death Eater relative would, Kendra was sort of friends with her cousin Toni. But Toni was her cousin. They have to be friends. Kendra did not like Pansy, Allison Mitton, or Gemma Tack at all. Millie was even more disliked by Kendra. Kendra had a horrible feeling that if people knew her secret, they'd hate her. So Kendra kept her mouth shut. I have awful relatives. I hate them, she thought sadly. People would at least be afraid of her.  
  
"Hey, we got a note," Susan said suddenly, her green eyes sparkling.  
  
"Hey, if I were you, I wouldn't speak of midgets," Kendra joked.  
  
"You can't be much over five-nothing, yourself."  
  
"You're no giant yourself, Kendra," Susan told her.  
  
"I'm five foot four, FYI," Kendra said. "And my brother Jared is only ten, and he's four-eleven!"  
  
"Your brother is tall, and you're short," Susan said.  
  
"I'm average height," said Kendra.  
  
"Do you get it?" Susan said.  
  
"Yes, since our second year," replied Kendra.  
  
"Then you're shortish," Susan repiled.  
  
"Not funny," pouted Kendra. "Hermione can still grow, and she's pretty tall! It's not fair!"  
  
"Let's just read the letter already," Susan sighed. The partners skimmed over the letter. The group had split up. "Okay, so we have to keep our arms linked the whole time. what for?"  
  
"Don't know. For the task?" Kendra suggested, shrugging. She rolled up the sleeves of her size-gigantic sweatshirt. Apparently they were all made to fit Crabbe and Goyle, the largest peole in their year. Kendra's sweatshirt was down to her knees, and was very baggy, because Crabbe and Goyle were so fat. Like hippos, only less graceful, Kendra thought, giggling to herself. She thought of how Lavender looked in her sweatshirt. Lavender was so small, and so skinny, that her sweatshirt was to her ankles, almost.  
  
Susan and Kendra linked arms. "It also says to spin ourselves around nine times with our arms linked," Kendra reminded Susan. The pair began spinning. one time. four times. eight times.  
  
On the ninth spin, Kendra and Susan suddenly found themselves spinning faster and faster. The room was a teriffic whirl of color, Kendra felt as if she was going to lose her lunch, as well as her breakfast.  
  
The girls began to slow down. Slower. slower. ever slower. full stop. The girls landed in a muddy lake.  
  
"Ew. This is gross!" Susan said. "My hair! It must be brown now, instead of red. Gross!"  
  
"Hey, watch what you say about brown hair!" Kendra said, a grin on her face stating that she was kidding.  
  
"Anyway, our task is to find the rest of the group in this, er, is this a jungle?"  
  
"I guess we should start looking," Susan said.  
  
"I HAVE AN IDEA!!!" said Kendra.  
  
"Kendra, why are you shouting? " Susan asked, sounding amused.  
  
"That is my idea. Yell our heads off AND OTHERS WILL FIND US! KENDRA EADES AND SUSAN BONES ARE HERE!"  
  
"Kendra's lost her marbles," said Susan. Just then, two figures appeared. "You can drop arms now," one of them said. One figure was of average height and weight, and the other was average height and fat. It was Eloise and Mandy.  
  
"Okay," said Kendra, "I have this idea where we walk around hollering our heads off. We take turns. The others will be sure to find us quickly. Mandy, you go first, as you have a big mouth."  
  
"Sure," Mandy said. "OVER HERE OVER HERE OVER HERE!"  
  
"Geez, girl," Eloise said while Mandy was still yelling as if she was under the Cruciatus Curse. "I'm gonna go deaf."  
  
"YELL MANDY, YELL!" Kendra said. Mandy kept on yelling. Before long, the group found another pair: Kelly and Millicent.  
  
Then Millie started to holler, glad for the opportunity. It took longer this time before finding a pair. The pair was Rebecca and Hermione. Millie insisted on yelling some more. Everybody agreed, knowing that then Millie's voice would be shot. It was about 20 minutes before the last pair, Hannah and Lavender was found. Everyone linked arms and spun 9 times. They landed on the 8th, and last, floor.  
  
The first clue that something was wrong was that everyone had the feeling they were being watched. But they ignored it. They read the final letter from Dumbledore, telling them to jump out the window holding hands with somebody. Kendra went with Eloise; Hermione went with Susan; Millie went with Kelly; Hannah went with Rebecca; Mandy went with Lavender. Kendra and Eloise started towards the window.  
  
Suddenly, about ten people Apparated out of thin air. They were not group one. They all seemed to be adults. The lighting turned red. They were wearing long robes, with hoods pulled up over their faces. Uh oh, Hermione thought. She recognized them from Harry's description. She watched Kendra go dead white. They had both realized that the men were Death Eaters. They turned and drew out their wands. Kendra gulped and exchanged frightened glances with everyone. A squeaky noise came form Eloise's throat. They started muttering to each other. Kendra managed to catch some of their words. They made her stomach leap around in fear. She silently gupled.  
  
"What does the girl look like again?"  
  
"Curly brown hair, grayish eyes."  
  
"But it is dark in here, how can we tell the color of her eyes? A few of these people have curly hair."  
  
"Shoulder length, maybe a little longer. Wispy bangs."  
  
Oh, no! That sounds like what I look like. Or Hermione, but she has brown eyes.  
  
"This girl is a little bit on the thin side, but isn't super-skinny. She is of average height. Really, Goyle, you are so slow."  
  
"But Lucius, won't he be mad if we harm his niece?"  
  
"Oh, we won't harm the niece of Davus. At least, not if she obeys us."  
  
Definitely me. I am so in danger, Kendra thought unhappily. I'm in big trouble now.  
  
"Take the girl and her partner. I think her name is Cassandra or something like that. She is a Hufflepuff." Great. Both me and Eloise are in trouble.  
  
The Death Eaters spread out. One grabbed Hermione and Susan. "Is this girl the one we need?" the Death Eater asked, shaking Hermione.  
  
"I think so," another said.  
  
Author's note: A Cliffie! Ha ha ha ha ha! Just wait till you see what happens! Flames welcome with open arms. 


	6. Death and Doom

A/n: I'm baaaaaaaack. Now you'll see what happens. BTW, ?I'm kinda pissed right now b/c some meanie tried to send me a virus. sniffsniff I never did anything to them. Whooops, I got off subject. Speaking of off-subject, I turn 15 on September 13th if anybody cares.  
  
Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing.  
  
  
  
"No, she's not the one we need, Avery," a large one said. "Too tall. 5'4" is up to my shoulder, and this one's higher than my shoulder. Now who is up to my shoulder?"  
  
  
  
"We've got a lot of them. 5'4" is about average," one said.  
  
  
  
"Remember. Curly brown hair, grayish eyes, 5'4", medium weight, you know, neither fat nor thin. That girl's too thin too."  
  
  
  
"This is screwed up. LUMOS!" The sudden light made my eyes hurt.  
  
  
  
"Hey, that girl looks awful pale."  
  
  
  
"They all are, you moron. Which is good, that mean's they're scared."  
  
  
  
"That one looks especially so."  
  
  
  
"Hey, dumbass, she could have a fair complexion."  
  
  
  
"She fits the description."  
  
  
  
Uh, oh. I am so screwed, Kendra thought sadly.  
  
  
  
"Which one is she?" The one holding Hermione pushed her to the floor, hard.  
  
  
  
"The medium sized girl with curly air next to the slightly shorter fat girl with pimples."  
  
  
  
The Death Eaters came over to Kendra. "Are you Cassandra or whatever?" one of them asked.  
  
  
  
"No, her name is not Cassandra, you horrid turd," Eloise burst out.  
  
  
  
"Hey, maybe we should teach Fatty a lesson," one said in a horribly amused tone as another grabbed Kendra.Horrified, Kendra began struggling, trying to stomp on his feet, and another pointed his wand at me. "Petrificus Totallus!" Kendra's legs snapped together, my arms stuck to my sides, my mouth locked. I helplessly watched as Hermione raised her wand, and a Death Eater stunned her.  
  
(I really don't want to say what happened to Eloise but I have to )  
  
  
  
Suddenly, Eloise came into Kendra's line of vision, and a Death Eater grabbed her.  
  
  
  
"Shall we teach this piece of filth a lesson she'll remember for the rest of her very short life?" the Death Eater asked, chuckling coldly and pitilessly.  
  
  
  
"Yeah! Yeah!" the others chorused. The Death Eater shoved Eloise away, pointed his wand at her, and bellowed, "Crucio!" Eloise began jerking on the floor, screaming. Kendra felt a lurch of horror in her stomach.  
  
  
  
"Stop it! Stop it!" Mandy cried, bursting into tears. The Death Eaters just laughed.  
  
  
  
"Please, stop it, PLEASE!" Susan squealed.  
  
  
  
"Maybe you should, Macnair," said a Death Eater. Kendra didn't like the tone of his voice. Very fishy. A thrill of foreboding suddenly gripped her spirit..  
  
  
  
"Sure," said Macnair. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" Screams erupted in the room from everybody except the Stunned Hermione, and Kendra, who was under the Body Bind, and of course, Eloise. A flash of green light blazed in the room and disappeared. Kendra felt sick, knowing what she was about to see. Everyone was screaming, and Kendra wanted to do the same, very badly. Eloise was lying curled up on the floor, motionless.  
  
  
  
"Oh, my GOSH! OH MY GOSH!" Hannah cried. "ELOISE!"  
  
  
  
"SHE'S, ER, ER," Susan stammered.  
  
  
  
"Dead," murmured Lavender quietly. Everyone screamed again.  
  
  
  
Millie strode over to Eloise and shook her. "Oh, Eloise, please don't be dead. Please." To Kendra's amazement, Millie sounded as if she was about to cry. "Oh Eloise, I'm so sorry. I was so bitchy to you and."  
  
  
  
"She's dead," said Macnair. "Now let's take this." He indicated Kendra. The last Kendra saw of Merlin Haunted House was her screaming teammates.  
  
  
  
"O my gosh, what is going on in there?" Callie Roberts exclaimed to Parvati Patil. "It was nothing like that when we went through the house!"  
  
  
  
"I know," said Parvati. "I've never heard anything like that!"  
  
  
  
"Neither have I," said Parvati's identical twin Padma. "It sounds like they're being tortured or something." The screams did not sound like those being scared by innocent, though scary, magical enchantments.  
  
  
  
Callie shuddered. "Oh, NO! Please don't say that! Remember what happened to my family?" Callie had been at summer camp the previous year, during the Quidditch World Cup. She had heard all about what the Death Eaters did to her family. Apparently the Ministry hadn't realized that her parents already knew about the wizarding world, because of Callie. Callie had been horrified when she found out what had happened via the rumor mill.  
  
  
  
"Aaw, you're scaring Callie, Padma," Emmy Monet said, putting an arm around Callie's shoulder. "But seriously, like, what is going on?"  
  
  
  
"Well, I suppose I'll find out from Mandy or Rebecca," said Lisa Turpin, joining the group. "Or Eloise, if I must."  
  
  
  
"You mean the fatso zit-face?" sneered Pansy Parkinson.  
  
  
  
"Don't be mean, Pansy," Sally-Anne Perks said. By now, all ten girls were gathered together.  
  
  
  
"Don't be mean, Pansy," Pansy mimicked, imitating Sally's squeaky voice. "What a goody-goody you are, Perks.  
  
  
  
"Leave Sally alone!" Lavender said. Everybody looked shocked. Lavender, the smallest girl in the year, was standing up to the tall Pansy, who was about 5'8".  
  
  
  
"Shut your trap, pipsqueak," Allison Mitton said.  
  
  
  
"You're not so tall yourself, Allison," Padma said.  
  
  
  
"Neither are you."  
  
  
  
"I'm your size, genius." Everyone snickered when Padma fired that diss.  
  
  
  
"I do pretty good. I'm not in Hufflepuff like your friend Sally."  
  
  
  
"Don't start insulting Hufflepuff," Emmy said.  
  
  
  
"Why not? There's only one of those morons here. Sally," Allison Mitton said, sticking her upturned nose into the air.  
  
  
  
"Yeah," Gemma said. "Kendra, Kelly, Susan, and Hannah are in the house still."  
  
  
  
"Yeah, in that rumpus. What's going on?" That was Parvati speaking.  
  
  
  
"Guys, please don't diss my cousin. I don't care about the others, but do not diss my cousin," Toni Nott said. "Leave her alone"  
  
  
  
"Who's your cousin, Toni?" asked Lisa.  
  
  
  
"Kendra Eades," Toni answered. "Curly brown hair, medium height and weight, gray eyes."  
  
  
  
"Kendra Eades? You're kidding!" Callie exclaimed.  
  
  
  
"I kid you not. Kendra is my cousin," Toni said. "On my dad's side."  
  
  
  
"But she always seemed so nice," Lavender whispered to Parvati. "She's honestly related to a Slytherin?"  
  
  
  
"I've heard Toni's father is a big-time supporter of You-know-who," Parvati said. "By the way, Toni's a Ravenclaw."  
  
"Who acts like a Slytherin," Lavender retorted.  
  
"Whatever."  
  
  
  
"Wonder if Kendra will be? Her goody-goody act could be a cover-up, like concealer or foundation for pimples," Lavender said conspiratically.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"What's with the teachers, Harry?" Ron said. "They're running all over the place like madmen!"  
  
  
  
"I'm not sure I want to know," Harry replied nervously. "I have a feeling something bad happened. Something with Voldemort. My scar hurts."  
  
  
  
"Whoa. Snape actually looks scared," Ron commented. "And don't say the name."  
  
  
  
"You're right. He does," Harry murmured, his stomach sinking horribly. He had a very bad feeling about this... He hoped he was wrong, but it seemed that he was right. It did have something to do with Voldemort.  
  
  
  
  
  
A/n: Cliffie! At least, on the part of Kendra's group. What happened to Kendra Eades? The only way to find out is to keep up with the story. Just review.. 


	7. Taken

Author's note: Happy New Year, peoples! (for those of you in a place where it is the first) I'm finally getting on with the story. I'm just tired of working on the Raspberries. *shrugs*  
  
Discalimer: O.o. I hate these things. I don't own what JKR does, you know the drill.  
  
  
  
Kendra found herself flying through swirling air very fast, still in someone's tight grip. She felt sick and wondered what would happen to her. She was also in shock at what had happened to Eloise? Would she go like her? Kendra had a nasty feeling that she just might. Help me, oh help me, please, Kendra though frantically. Suddenly the spinning ceased. Kendra found herself in a large wooden shack-like structure. She was surrounded by Death Eaters.  
  
I should give them numbers, Kendra thought to amuse herself. Death Eaters 1 through whatever. Kendra found that thought funny. A smile hovered around her mouth.  
  
Death Eater number 5 glared at Kendra. "And what are you smirking at, girl?"  
  
Kendra, still kind of under the body-bind, was unable to talk. A Death Eater lifted that curse. "Now, girl, talk. What were you smirking at? You think this is funny, do you? Do you?" The one holding Kendra in a death grip shook her, hard, while another pulled her curly ponytail. Kendra gave the slightest wince of pain.  
  
"My lord, she has arrived," one of the Death Eaters called. This one had a high, squeaky voice. He was short and fat. Peter Pettigrew? He resembled the person Harry had described from last year. He was the one who had murdered Cedric Diggory on Voldemort's orders. Oh, boy, am I screwed or what?  
  
Suddenly, Wormtail's words sunk in. Voldemort was very near. Kendra felt as if her body temperature had dropped 10 degrees. She wondered why she was a target, being related to a Death Eater and all. Kendra felt ashamed of her uncle Davus Nott. Uncle Davus, how could you do this to me? Why? Why?  
  
"Kendra, Master will be coming soon. He would like to see you and speak to you," one of the Death Eaters taunted. "Do you want to see him?"  
  
"No comment," Kendra said. She knew very well that the Death Eaters knew the true answer.  
  
The Death Eater who had asked the query slapped Kendra's left cheek hard. Kendra winced as her cheek burned painfully. "Tie her up," the Death Eater ordered. "Apparently she won't cooperate with us." Two Death Eaters grabbed an arm each. Kendra struggled to get free of their grasp. They dragged Kendra over to a pole in the middle of the room. The tall Death Eaters raised Kendra's arms high against the pole and held them there. A third Death Eater strode over and conjured up rope and knots, tying the brunette to the pole.  
  
It was a very uncomfortable position for Kendra. She struggled to move but found that she could not. She was absolutely vertical, with her arms raised as high as they could go.  
  
"Should I gag her?" one of the Death Eaters asked.  
  
"Don't bother," another said. "This place is deserted. The closest house is two miles away. No one will hear if she screams. Besides, it will be funny"  
  
'Oh, wow, that's just great.' Kendra thought, flabbergasted that anyone would feel a twisted sort of pleasure out of the pain of another.  
  
A couple of minutes later, a tall, skeletally thin, cloaked figure came into Kendra's view. There was a chilly air around the man. He sauntered right in front of Kendra. She felt so cold that goose bumps popped onto her arms, even under the heavy, baggy sweatshirt. "Why hello, Kendra Eades," the figure said tauntingly from under his cloak and hood. "Are you afraid of me, girl?"  
  
"Of course I'm not afraid of you," Kendra lied bravely, as her voice quivered.  
  
"There's no need to be afraid of me if you're on my side. Why, I'm quite pleasant to those who are on my side. My loyal followers also get a little bit of my power. They love me. It's those foolish enough not to join me who are in a bit of trouble," Voldemort said tantalizingly. Kendra felt sick. "If you're on my side, there's no need to be afraid."  
  
"Well, guess what?" Kendra said. "I'm not on your side."  
  
"I know that," Voldemort said. "But I bet I could persuade you. I know that your uncle Davus Nott happens to be a Death Eater. He can be foolish, without a doubt, but he is faithful at times. You're related him, so you're well suited to joining me.  
  
"Well, Voldemort, just because I'm related to him doesn't mean I'm like him. Plus, just out of curiousity, why is it me you're after? Why not my cousin, or my older sister or brother, or someone else? I'm just curious."  
  
"Your cousin, Antonia, will probably join me, being the daughter of a Death Eater and all. Nott has a lot of power in his house, as you probably know. Tina Nott knows there is only power, not good and evil, not right and wrong. You know, even I used to believe in good and bad, when I was little. Then, before I was your age, I realized how wrong I happened to be. There is no good and bad. Just power. As for your older sister and brother, they're Muggles. Don't you remember? You're a Mudblood. You and your siblings are magical, but your parents aren't.. Which is such a shame, they'll have to go. We can't have Muggles around."  
  
"Guess what? I'll never join you, I'll never help you," Kendra shouted.  
  
"Circle up," Voldemort commanded. The Death Eaters formed a circle around him and Kendra. "I see we have a reluctant Nott here. I see our own Davus Nott isn't here, of course. I sent him off on a Muggle-torture mission."  
  
"I'm not a Nott, I'm an Eades!" Kendra yelled. "I may be related to a Nott, but I consider myself an Eades!" Oh, my gosh, those poor Muggles, Kendra thought sadly. Then she realized that she would probably be treated the same way, or worse, and her heart sank even lower. Would she ever see the uncle she was so ashamed of having again? Or her benevolent family or friends?  
  
  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Harry and Ron and the rest of the boys were still wondering what was going on. Snape entered the room. "Come on, boys, we've got to leave. Now. We're going to join the group which went yesterday."  
  
All the boys immediately go up to follow Snape. "Ow, my scar is hurting me again," Harry whispered to Ron.  
  
Terry Boot and Logan Svackinetowicz ran to catch up with Harry and Ron. "What do you suppose is going on? This isn't how my brother described this trip," Terry said.  
  
"No idea," Harry lied. He only liked talking about Voldemort with Ron, Hermione, and now Kendra. Hermione and Kendra. They were in Merlin Haunted House. Harry hoped they were all right.  
  
"Ugh. My girlfriend Mandy is in there," said Logan. "She'd better be okay."  
  
"Rebecca and Eloise Midgen are in there too. We could also ask Rebecca," Terry said. Despite Becky being in Slytherin, she had managed to make herself popular in other houses, though many Slytherins considered her a traitor.  
  
"Rebecca's such a flirt," Ron commented. Terry and Logan laughed. "We know. We've both gone out with her," Logan said.  
  
"She's gone out with half the boys in our year, hasn't she?" Harry asked.  
  
"She went out with all the guy Slytherins in our year," said Terry. "And Dean in your dorm, 3 Ravenclaws, 2 Hufflepuffs, and some older guys."  
  
"She's awfully pretty," Ron said.  
  
"She's not too skinny either. I like girls with a little bit of meat on them," Logan added.  
  
Harry sighed inwardly. This guy talk about girls wasn't distracting him a bit. His scar was also hurting more than it was before.  
  
"Harry, what do you think of Rebecca Fawcett?" Ron asked.  
  
"She's all right, I guess," Harry said. She was pretty, but not in Cho Chang's league. Harry also didn't like that she was a total flirt, not to mention a Slytherin. He preferred to be friends with a girl first before going out with her. Secretly, Harry liked Kendra almost as much as Cho. She wasn't that pretty, but she had a very attractive personality. He didn't want to ask her out though, for fear of ruining the friendship he and Kendra had.  
  
"Hey look, there's some of the girls!" the Ravenclaw Chuck Moon called. Most of the boys, except for Harry and Ron, laughed. Hermione's and Kendra's group was still missing. The girls from Allison Mitton through Lisa Turpin were there though.  
  
"Where's Mandy?" Logan mused. "I guess I'll have to ask Lisa." He went over to Lisa, Terry behind him.  
  
"Has Hermione's group come out?" Harry asked Parvati Patil.  
  
"No. But they were screaming a lot," Parvati answered. "Looking for Hermione and Kendra Eades?"  
  
"Yeah," said Harry. "I hope they're okay."  
  
"Me too. Especially since Lavender's in there, and some of my other friends," Parvati answered."  
  
"Hi Harry, hi Ron," Emmy Monet said, coming over to Parvati. "Parvati, I saw a cute hairstyle in a magazine, and I want to know how you think it will look on me."  
  
"Okay," Parvati said. "Bye guys." She and Emmy went over to a group of girls.  
  
"Everyone, please be quiet," Professor McGonagall called. "I have an announcement to make about the group who went into Merlin Haunted House today." Silence fell over the thirty students.  
  
"They were attacked while they were in the haunted house. This trip is over now. We're going back to Hogwarts. This just isn't safe for any of you to stay here. The group will come in shortly. I have even worse news for all of you." Professor McGonagall's voice cracked. "It is about two students in the group."  
  
"Uh oh, this sounds really bad," Ron whispered to Harry. Harry had a strange sense of foreboding."  
  
"Two girls in the group were attacked with curses. One of the two is dead, the other is missing."  
  
A furor of whispering erupted in the room, mostly about the fact that someone was dead.  
  
"Someone died?"  
  
"Oh my God, who is it?"  
  
"I hope it isn't my girlfriend."  
  
"I hope it isn't my best friend."  
  
"I hope it's Granger." This came from Draco Malfoy. Harry turned and shot him an extremely nasty look as hatred surged through his very soul. Draco smirked at Harry, and Harry felt his blood boil with rage.  
  
"I don't believe it? Who died?" Ron whispered frantically.  
  
"If they'd waited until tomorrow, it would have been me probably," Harry whispered grimly. Ron blanched.  
  
"Oh, Harry, please don't talk like that," Ron moaned. "You don't suppose it's Hermione or Kendra, do you?"  
  
Harry's stomach flip-flopped. 'That is the way Voldemort seems to think. The best way to get to me is through my friends.'  
  
"Quiet, everyone," McGonagall said. "I have to tell you who the two are. Eloise Midgen was hit with the Cruciatus Curse. Then she was murdered with the Killing Curse."  
  
Everyone gasped. More whispers erupted.  
  
"Eloise? Eloise? She died?" Oh my gosh, I feel so bad now. I was so mean to her," Callie Roberts moaned. She burst into tears. Emmy and Parvati each draped an arm over one of Callie's shoulders. "Eloise, I'm sorry," Callie cried. She wasn't the only one. A lot of students in the year were voicing their guilt about taunting Eloise. The exception was, of course, a lot of the Slytherins.  
  
"My gosh, I was mean to her a lot too. Remember the Yule Ball, Harry? Last year? I said that I'd rather go alone than with, say, Eloise. Just because she had skin and weight problems."  
  
"It isn't like she was the only teen in the world with skin problems, either," Harry muttered back. "Or weight problems. Look at my cousin Dudley. He makes Eloise look absolutely scrawny."  
  
"And the missing student," McGonagall continued, clearing her throat, "is Kendra Eades. Let's all hope that she will come out of this alive and not corrupted by You-Know-Who." Harry assumed that meant that she neither joined the dark side nor was under the Imperious Curse.  
  
"I knew it," Ron moaned. "I had a feeling it was either her or Hermione."  
  
"Me too," Harry agreed. "I hope she'll be all right." The two got silent and listened to everyone else's reactions.  
  
"Oh, my gosh. I like, hope Kendra doesn't like, die."  
  
"Do you suppose she'll go over to the Dark side?"  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Meanwhile, Kendra was still alive and tied up. "Kendra, are you going to join me?" Voldemort asked.  
  
"Never!" Kendra shouted.  
  
"Then you leave me no choice." Voldemort pulled out his wand and said the incantation for one of the Unforgivables 


	8. Trapped, Escaped, Found

Author's note: Wow, I'm kinda breezing through this! lol!!! Ah, yes,I have this club, called the TFBs. It's a yahoo group. :-) just go to www.groups.yahoo.com, sign in, search for teenflybutterflys, then join. hang on, I found the link. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teenflybutterflys/ I'd love it if some of you join, kays?  
  
Disclaimer: Do I have to do these?  
  
  
  
  
  
When Voldemort said an incantation, there was suddenly a hollow, echoing feeling in Kendra Eades's head. She felt as if her mind had been basically wiped of all thought. Without warning, a voice awakened in Kendra's brain. Join me... Join me... just join me and your problems will be over. join me...  
  
Then a second voice woke up. "No! I will not! I'm not joining you! No way! I'd rather die! Never!"  
  
Join me... join me... you will be happier, your dreams will come true... join me...  
  
"Liar! I won't! I will not join you! Never, ever, ever!"  
  
Just join me... become a servant of me.. Join me!  
  
"I won't!" Kendra shouted these words aloud, and her dream state went as quickly as it had come.  
  
"You won't? You don't wish to join me? Foolish girl, you'd be happier and healthier if you'd join me. Ah, well, I see you are not to be persuaded in a painless way. I guess you need a little dose of pain to listen to me." Voldemort raised his wand into the air. "Crucio!"  
  
Pain much worse than anything Kendra had ever felt in her life afflicted every molecule of her body. She remembered, as from a former lifetime, the time she'd been bitten by a doxy. That had hurt a lot, but this was much worse. Kendra felt as if she were being stabbed, shot, burned, drowned, suffocated, pinched, and bitten all at once, only this hurt more. She felt as if she had fallen from a height of a mile onto jagged pieces of broken glass; an animal was ripping her to pieces; every bone of her body was shattering; she was on fire; she was being operated on without anestesia...  
  
Kendra screamed moe loudly than she'd have thought she'd be capable of. She desperately hoped that Voldemort would stop, that a good person would hear her cries of pain, that she'd pass out. Kendra wished that she would just die.  
  
And then the pain desisted. Kendra's throat felt raw from screaming, and she still had aches all over from the Cruciatus Curse. She remembered "Professor Moody's" lesson with the spiders and the Unforgivables. So this was how spider number 2 had felt, just how she, Kendra, was feeling now.  
  
"Are you ready to join us now, Kendra Eades?" Voldemort asked.  
  
"No, never," said Kendra, bravely and stubbornly. Her voice trembled with fear of what was to come.  
  
Voldemort hit Kendra with the Cruciatus Curse again. The pain returned in full force. Once again, ear-shattering screams issued from Kendra's mouth.The Death Eaters seemed to enjoy Kendra's shouts. Oh, heartless fiends, Kendra thought. She couldn't believe that her own uncle would treat people like this. He probably doesn't give a damn about what's happening to me this very moment.  
  
After a few minutes, Voldemort lifted the curse again. Kendra sighed with relief and sadness.  
  
"Are you going to cooperate yet, Kendra Eades?" Voldemort asked. "Are you going to follow your deear uncle's way of life? You don't want to be a disgrace to your family, do you?"  
  
"He's a disgrace to the family. I will NOT follow in his footsteps. No, not now, not ever. I'd rather kill myself than follow in his footsteps," Kendra said.  
  
Voldemort's eyes flashed, and he smirked. "You as good as killed yourself, Kendra Eades. Crucio!" For a third time, Kendra was possessed by the incredibly bizarre pain. She continued shrieking and shrieking. Finally, everything seemed to swirl around Kendra. Then the swirling colors went pitch-black.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
  
  
"Please. Tell me this isn't happening," Mandy Brocklehurst moaned, burying her head in her hands. "Tell me that Eloise did not just die and that Kendra has not just been kidnapped."  
  
Rebecca hugged Mandy. "It's happening, and we're all freaking out here." Mandy sighed. "I hate Death Eaters. Every single one of them. I suppose Kendra's gonna turn into one of them now. She's the niece of a rumored Death Eater."  
  
"She's also a Muggle-born," Kelly pointed out.  
  
"So? That doesn't mean anything. She wouldn't hurt her own parents anyway, I don't think," Susan added.  
  
Hannah glanced over at the Stunned Hermione. "How do you wake a Stunned person? I think we'd be safer with Hermione awake. She's the most powerful out of all of us. She is good at everything. Except Divination, but like, whatever."  
  
"Oh yeah," said Mandy. She drew out her wand and aimed it at Hermione. "Ennervate!" Hermione's brown eyes opened. Millie went over and helped Hermione to sit up. Hermione looked shocked that she was being helped by a Slytherin, of all people.  
  
"Are you all right?" Millie asked. The other group members gaped at Millie openmouthed as well.  
  
"What do we do?" asked Kelly.  
  
"Wait for a teacher or someone to come, I guess," Susan said. she brushed her tangled red hair with her fingers hopelessly. "My hair's too wavy. I need a brush."  
  
"Susan, we've got better things to worry about than our hair," said Millie. She was completely apathetic to the fact that her black hair was stringy and also tangled. "Like if the 'or someone' comes rather than a teacher."  
  
"Millie, why are you acting almost nice?" Hannah asked Millie suspiciously. Millie's mouth dropped open with anger. "What, you don't think I'm capable of being nice?" Millie said indignantly. "Just because I'm a Slytherin? You know, I'm really sick and tired of you people in other houses insulting Slytherin. It's really annoying. Sure, we've had some evil peoiple in Slytherin and Slytherin only, but that's because ambition can turn into greed. I can't believe you people have the nerve to judge the semi-decent and decent ones by the bad ones like Draco. Especially you Gryffindors." Millie glared at Lavender and Hermioe before continuing her rant. "You-know- who was a Slytherin. Grindenwald was a Slytherin. Many other Dark Wizards were Slytherins. Does that automatically make Slytherin a mini-Durmstrang? And sure, I may insult Muggle-borns every now and then, but I personally consider Mudblood more of a slang term than an insult! You..."  
  
"Mudblood is an insult," Hermione said. "It means dirty blood. That's a very bad thing to tell someone, that they have bad blood just because of their parents."  
  
Millicent's eyes bugged put with anger. "That's exactly what you guys do to Slytherins! True, some of us may have parents on the side of Voldemort, but that doesn't automatically make us teenagers bad! I bet Draco would actually be decent if he had a different father. He's been brainwashed! His mind has been corrupted ever since he was a little kid! Vincent and Gregory were taught to always obey those above them. They're idiots, and the Malfoys are richer than the Crabbes and Goyles. Therefore Gregory and Vincent consider Draco above them. Me, I'll never follow anyone! I think those of the follower type are absolutely pathetic."  
  
A teacher entered right in the middle of Millie's rant. "You girls need to get out of here," said Professor McGonagall grimly. "You're still in danger. Just follow me."  
  
Hannah, Susan, Mandy, Hermione, Millie, Rebecca, Kelly, and Lavender got up to follow McGonagall. McGonagall's gaze fell on the limp Eloise, and she turned pale. Her eyes had a strange glint to them. "Millicent, can you help me carry Eloise?"  
  
Millie nodded and helped the teacher lift Eloise. McGonagall conjured up a stretcher, and Millie lifted the lifeless girl onto it. McGonagall and Eloise's stretcher led the group, then Millie and Kelly walked together, then Hermione and Hannah, then Susan and Lavender, and then Mandy and Rebecca, who seemed nrvous about being at the rear. McGonagall led the procession to a room. "This room has an enchantment on it so noone can Apparate into it. You'll be safe here. I'm going to lock you in. Don't leave until I say to," McGonagall ordered. "Wait, I only count 8 of you? Who's missing? Where's Kendra?"  
  
Hermione stepped forward. "She was taken by the Death Eaters." Her voice was shaking. "I don't know where they went with her."  
  
"We'll have to search for Kendra," said McGonagall. "I'll tell everyone else what happened. You all stay in here. I have to tell the teachers to round up everyone." Then McGonagall exited the room.  
  
  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * When Kendra came to, she seemed to be all alone. She was kind of confused at first because she was in pitch- blackness.  
  
"Wow. Was I dreaming?" Kendra mumbled to herself. She sat up and realized that she wasn't tied up. However, she felt kind of stiff. "Wow, this is really peculiar. Wow. Where am I?" She heard noise, voices and thumps. "My, my, I am in trouble." She knew the Death Eaters were still in the building. She could faintly hear a low rumble of voices. She climbed to her feet in the pitch-blackness. I've got to get myself out of here. This is bad. Really bad. Kendra began pacing forward, until she walked right smack into something. It was a wall. Kendra rubbed her nose painfully, then placed her right hand on the wall. Then she began slowly pacing forward again.  
  
"I've got to find a window. I don't think a door's safe, though it wouldn't hurt to know where one is," Kendra mumbled to herself. She ran her hand along the wall as she softly paced. The next thing she felt was something raised off the wall. Kendra ran her hand along it, puzzled. It was long and wooden, and ended at waist height. Kendra realized that it was a boarded window. Well, duh. Why would they have an unboarded window? You'd escape way too easily.  
  
Kendra sighed and moved on. She found a corner, turned, then continued pacing straight. She foun a second corner, and turned again. Presently, she walked into a protruding piece of metal... a doorknob. Kendra jiggled it, but it was locked. "If only I had my wand," she sighed. Then she could use the Reductor curse to try and get through the window, or Alohomora to unlock the door. The voices sounded a bit clearer.  
  
"What should we do with the girl though? Should we kill her, or try the Imperious again, or what, my Lord?" came a grunty voice.  
  
"Davus isn't gonna be too pleased if we kill his niece," said another man, with a raspy voice. Voldemort cackled.  
  
"I don't care what Nott thinks. Anyway, his niece is a disgrace to that family. Not only is she a Mudblood, but she won't even join me either. The Imperius is useless. Apparently she knows how to fight it."  
  
"Maybe Crouch shouldn't have taught the students how to fight the Imperius. That wasn't too wise. First Potter was able to fight it off, now Eades can."  
  
"Ah, but you see, Lucius, it would be out of Mad-Eye Moody's character not to teach his students how to do the Imperius. Apparently he thought Potter would die no matter what."  
  
"Potter was just lucky. He'd be no loss. He fights with my son Draco all the time. I'm kind of worried about how Davus will react if his niece dies."  
  
"Oh, he won't care," Voldemort said. "It's not like she's his own daughter like her cousin Antonia."  
  
"Kendra Eades and Antonia Nott are both in Draco's year, too." Malfoy said.  
  
"My boy Gregory's in Draco's year, also. So is Crabbe's son Vincent," said the Death Eater with the raspy voice. Kendra now knew 3 voices: Lucius Malfoy's, Goyle's, and of course, Voldemort's. She made a mental note to ask Harry about his experiences and battles: if she ever got out of the building alive. Be positive, Kendra.  
  
"The question is, what do we do with Eades?" the man with the grunt asked.  
  
"Crabbe, I say we just kill her. But of course, it is up to my Lord," Malfoy said.  
  
"We'd better get out of here like the others did," said Goyle.  
  
"We should Disapparate. Why, Wormtail, you've been awfully quiet," cackled Voldemort.  
  
"S-sorry, my Lord. I might add, I don't know how to Apparate," Wormtail said.  
  
Voldemort laughed cruelly again. "Then, Wormtail, take one of the Portkeys. It will land us in the back of Hogwarts. Then we'll all go into the Forbidden Forest." The five men laughed. Kendra now felt sick.  
  
"My Lord, what do we do with the girl?" Wormtail implored.  
  
"We'll just leave her here in her little room. She'll die. Don't forget, this is a magical fire we've got going." Kendra's scalp crinkled with fear. A magical fire? That meant one of two things: either they set a fire which would soon consume the wooden building, or an Ashwinder would lay eggs, which would ignite the building.  
  
"What do the Portkeys look like again?" Wormtail asked.  
  
"That box of dead skunks. I can even turn dead things into portkeys," Voldemort bragged. Kendra felt a sense of repulsion. Eew. I'd never touch a dead skunk. Never.  
  
"Let's go! Leave the fire burning," Voldemort commanded. Kendra heard the slam of a door and pops of people Disapparating. Kendra was now the only one in the building.  
  
"I've got to find a way out of here! And fast!" Kendra said out loud. She felt her way around the walls, but there was nothing that helped. She found the boarded window agsin. She kicked the board, punched it, and tugged on it, but to no avail. She was still trapped. She sniffed the air for smoke, but there was no sign of it. Maybe they're just trying to scare me with the fire story. Maybe I'm stuck here until I starve to death. Or maybe it will be a loose Ashwinder. Kendra pulled off her sneaker and whacked it against the wall, hard. No cracks or anything.  
  
"I know, I'll try and break down the door." Kendra groped for the doorknob, walking around again. When she found it, she tried to force it open. Then she tried to break down the door.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, everyone else was going back to Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat together, still stunned.  
  
"Tell me this isn't happening," Harry muttered. "Tell me I'm dreaming."  
  
"It's happening. Kendra's missing, Eloise's dead. To think I used to be so mean to her too," Ron mumbled. "Hermione, you're right, she was really nice."  
  
"Ron..." Hermione said, at a loss for words. "Yes, you were mean, but you don't have to be so down on yourself for it."  
  
"And Kendra... I didn't even know her that well."  
  
"You can get to know her when we find her," said Harry, trying and failing to sound optimistic. Just then the whole year, minus Kendra and the living Eloise, arrived in Hogsmeade Station.  
  
"There's nothing that we can really do, except hope for the best," said Ron. "Let's just go up to bed."  
  
The students seperated into their Houses. Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked solenly to Gryffindor Tower. At the staircases, Hermione left them, and Dean, Seamus, Neville, Harry, and Ron walked to their dorm together.  
  
"Which one was Kendra Eades again? Wasn't she that kind of queer Huflepuff?" Dean said.  
  
"Yeah," said Seamus. "She's all quiet in class, but hyper with her friends. Harry, aren't you friends with her?"  
  
"Yeah," said Harry, "and so is Ron. She is strange, but in a good way."  
  
"I heard she's related to a Death Eater," Dean said.  
  
"I think she is, but Kendra seems to be all right," Ron added.  
  
"Still, I wouldn't confide in her too much," Seamus advised.  
  
"Or else you could end up like my parents, or worse," Neville piped up. The 5th years gasped. So did Harry, so Neville wouldn't know that he knew what he was talking about.  
  
"So your parents are dead?" said Seamus quietly.  
  
"No. They're insane. They're in St. Mungo's." Neville's voice cracked. "They... they don't even recognize me."  
  
Seamus awkwardly patted Neville's back. "Bummer," he said sympathetically. The other boys didn't know what to say. Harry wondered if Kendra might end up like Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom. He didn't say so out loud, but Harry thought that he'd rather be dead than an insane invalid.  
  
"Well, I'm going to bed," squeaked Neville. "Good night." He drew the curtains around himself.  
  
"I'm going to bed, too," said Harry. "Good night." But he didn't fall asleep right away. He just laid there for about half an hour, then he fell into a troubled sleep.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Of course the attempt to break down the door didn't work,. So Kendra leaned against the door, panted heavily, and waited. But for what?  
  
Presently, Kendra's nose was able to detect the scent of smoke. Great. They weren't kidding about the fire. 'Ashwinder, I'm betting.'  
  
Suddenly, there was an orange glow. Ignoring this, Kendra continued to lean against the door. She felt it start to get warm.  
  
"Oh, just great!" Kendra said aloud. The fire was right outside the door. She desperately felt her way around the walls again. "Help! Oh, please! Help!" Kendra called, though she knew that nobody would hear her. She suddenly remembered the Portkeys. The skunks. If she could get to one, she'd get back to Hogwarts! But how would she get out?  
  
The situation grew more and more hopeless. There was a sudden crash as the fire went through the door and lit up the walls. Kendra only saw one strand of hope for escape left. The window was lit up. And something was lying by the fire, about to be lit. It was a long, thin piece of wood... a wand!!!!  
  
"Wow," Kendra mumbled. She began coughing hard from the smoke and ash. She knew it might help her in a big way. Maybe. She was starting to feel faint...  
  
Kendra shook her head to try to clear it. She felt a little fuzzy. Suddenly, the wand ignited. "Omigosh!" Kendra exclaimed out loud. She snatched it up and beat at the flames with her hands. The wand seemed almost unscathed when the flames on it went out. There was a bigger problem... the big fire. Kendra went over to the boarded window, praying that her idea would work.  
  
"Reducto!" To Kendra's amazement, the wand worked fine. The Reductor curse burned a hole in the board big enough to fit through, but there was still the glass in the way. "Reducto!" Kendra called out again. To her immense horror, it didn;'t work this time The glass remained solid again. Apparently the now hacking, sharp cough hindered her words.  
  
Without warning, Kendra felt an immense pain on her left arm. The flames were right behind her, and were licking at her arm and side. Kendra did the last desperate thing she could think of... she made a fist with her left arm, drew it back, and punched the glass as hard as she could. It didn't work. Kendra sighed hopelessly. She lifted up her right foot, and kicked the glass. That did it! The pane shattered, but there were still jagged pieces of glass poking up. These Kendra hit with her left fist. The shards of glass kept piercing her arm. Then Kendra dived out the window, and she landed on her knees... on the broken glass. Kendra cried out with pain. And her left arm was still aflame. Stop, drop, and roll.  
  
Kendra ran away from the building. The wind made the flames spread up to her shoulder. She threw herself onto the muddy ground, covered her face with her good hand, and rapidly rolled around. The flames were smothered by the mud and ground. Kendra just lay there, gasping for breath, watching the shack burn though a thick fog. Her vision was getting foggier by the second. Kendra tried to move her left arm, but found that she couldn't without extreme pain. Blood was running down that arm, and her shins. She saw a forest, the burning shack, a tin which was filled with dead skunks...  
  
Dead skunks! Kendra suddenly remembered the conversation where she had overheard that she'd be brought back to Hogwarts via a dead skunk. However, she didn't want to take a skunk back. She just wanted to lie there, ntil everything went black...  
  
Suddenly, faces flashed into her mind. 19-year-old John, 17-year-old Amy, her parents, 11-year-old Jared! Then her friends... Harry, Ron, Hermione, some others. Eloise! Eloise had died. Kendra was sure Hogwarts would flip out if she, too, perished. Plus, she was sure that if she died here, a Death Eater might return and do something horrible to her body. Kendra wnted to be free of this pain, but she also wanted a proper burial, or even better, at least to see her family and friends again. Kendra didn't want her body to mutilated. Of course, it kind of is already, Kendra thought sadly. Her arm, her shins...  
  
Suddenly, Kendra heard a deafening crash. The shack caved in, completely engulfed by fire. Kendra shuddered, imagining what it would be like in there. She felt a very scratchy feeling in her lungs. She coughed, and winced as little specks of blood came up. Kendra finally came to a decision: if she didn't make it, she wanted at least to die at Hogwarts. She dragged herself over to the skunk bin. They looked klike they were roadkill. Kendra shuddered, then touched one with her right hand.  
  
Suddenly, she felt a jerk just behind her navel. This was how Harry described that Portkeys worked. She found herself spinning in a howl of swirling color.  
  
She landed facedown into the ground. Kendra groaned and struggled to her feet. She was right at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hogwarts was in sight. She let go of the raccoon and took about a dozen tottering steps before she found herself short of breath. Kendra sighed. Suddenly, her vision went extremely foggy. She fell to her knees, and finally blacked out altogether.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, four dwarves were walking through the Forbidden Forest towards Hogwarts. They were clad in lime-green, orange, purple, and blue. They were all over 100 and they wanted to talk to Dumbledore for urgent reasons.  
  
"Do you think he's even there? I heard about some sort of field trip with 5th year students there," said the oldest dwarf, Zaide, who was in the lime- green outfit.  
  
"Probably," said Gareth (blue), stroking his beard thoughtfully. "At least, I hope so. We need his help. We aren't magic. We can only fight the Dark Lord with swords. A fat lot of help."  
  
"Ximen (orange) said, "That's why we need the help of wizards, especially powerful ones like Albus Dumbledore. I don't get why he doesn't just fight Voldemort."  
  
"Don't say the name!" the fourth one, Quillan (purple) said, shuddering. "He might hear."  
  
Zaide said, "It is only a name. I don't get why people get bothered by it so much. Especially the wizards. The hobbits seem to fear it too."  
  
"There are still hobbits around?" Ximen said incredulously. "I had the impression they died out!"  
  
"No, they just keep to themselves nowadays. I don't see how they'd help, anyways," Zaide said.  
  
"Just because they are smaller doesn't make them weaker," Gareth said.  
  
"Hey, we're approaching the end of the Dark Forest!" Quillan said suddenly. "Yes, I kow most call it the Forbidden Forest nowadays, wizards anyway, but I'd prefer its old name. Whoa!" Quillan had tripped over something and landed flat on his face. "Hello, what's this?" He glanced at what he had tripped over. It was the prone form of a human girl.  
  
"Wow, near Hogwarts too," Ximen murmered. "This is bad. This is really bad. He drew out hs sword in case an enemy came about. The other four followed suit.  
  
"Is it dead, though?" Gareth inquired. Zaide grabed the girl's wrist.  
  
"No, she isn't. And she's breathing, too. But she does seem badly injured." Zaide had noticed that the girl was covered with blood. She seemed to have glass embedded in her calves and left arm. Her left arm was swollen and charred.  
  
"She has been in a fire. What can we do for her? Do you suppose she is a pupil of this school?" Gareth asked.  
  
"Let's bring her to Dumbledore. He and the nurse here are excellent healers," said Zaide. "He may know what happened to her, too."  
  
"He's not all-knowing, you know," Ximen spoke up. "He may be in the family of Gandalf, but Gandalf wasn't either. Quillan, help me carry the girl." Gareth, Zaide, Ximen, and Quillan all plodded on towards the castle of Hogwarts, Ximen and Quillan carrying the girl's limp form.  
  
"Oomph, this girl is kind of heavy. Someone help me and Ximen carry her," Quillan groaned. Gareth came forward to help the other two. Suddenly, the girl stirred, startling the dwarves. She groaned with pain. "Who are you guys?" the girl mumbled softly.  
  
"Blimey, you're alive? We are going to help you. Don't try to talk," Zaide said gently.  
  
"My arm and legs hurt," she complained.  
  
"What's your name? Are you a student here?" Quillan inquired.  
  
"Kendra, and yes," Kendra answered weakly. "Let me try to walk." The dwarves helped Kendra to her feet. Kendra leaned heavily on Quillan and Gareth.  
  
"What happened to you?" Zaide asked Kendra. Without warning, Kendra's knees gave out and she fell to the ground. She was once again unconsious.  
  
Gareth, Quillan, and Ximen lifted her off the ground again. "This is urgent. We have to get this human to the castle, quick," Zaide said. "So she's one of Dumbledore's? He can help her." The dwarves swiftly strode towards the castle.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Dumbledore, meanwhile, was adding thoughts to his Pensieve in his office. He was in his nightclothes, but he didn't seem ready to go to bed just yet. His head was too full of thoughts about the day's events. He had a feeling that Kendra was still alive.  
  
Suddenly, Dumbledore heard voices outside. They were people who were wondering what the password was. "Dwarves," Dumbledore mumbled. He opened the study's door and immediately recognized the dwarves. "Why, hello, Quillan, Gareth, Zaide, Ximen," Dumbledore said. His blue eyes swept over the limp form of Kendra Eades. "She's not dead, right?" Dumbledore inquired. The dwarves shook their heads. "Where did you find her?"  
  
"We found her at the edge of the Dark Forest, knocked out. She came to briefly, but then she lost consiousness once again," Zaide said. "We think it was Voldemort's work. What do you think?"  
  
"Put Kendra on the bench there," Dumbledore said. The dwarves did this gently. Dumbledore bent over the 5th year.  
  
"No, she isn't dead. Her injuries can be fixed, but with difficulty. This glass has been cursed so that whoever is pierced with it gets poisoned. And she has been burned by a magical fire. That is the worst kind of burn there is. It won't be easy to cure her, she is very ill. I will need to give an antedote to her, and I'll have to use this special paste specifically for magical fire burns. That arm, she won't be able to use it for a while. It will need to be kept in bandages and a sling. She will be able top walk, at least."  
  
Sudenly, everyone was distracted by a series of gasps. Kendra was in severe distress. Then her breathing ceased altogether.  
  
"Omoigosh... she's dead!" Ximen cried.  
  
"We were too late!" Gareth said grimly.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's note: Um, more later. Is author fics okay for this story, or should I switch it back to Harry Potter? Please don't report me if this is a bad section, just tell me to switch to Harry Potter. I'd like to make some shout-outs  
  
Mel: Here's some flaming cheese for you! *sends some through Mel's speakers*  
  
DC's computer's virus: Go away!!!!! Me, our usual MSN group, and the DSE want DC back! *snarls*  
  
AMM: I still can't believe you have school Saturdays. AMM's compie, be nice, dammit! Grr.  
  
Hermi: Cool banner!  
  
Lucy: Merry Christmas! Wait, it's January. Oh well.  
  
Chizzy: You're you too! I don't believe it!!  
  
Oreo: Hiyas! *waves*  
  
Amy's hand: Stop being mean to her! 


	9. Awake, New Developments

Author's note: I'm trying to get this story done as fast as I can so I can do a sequel! Do all you readers want a sequel or not, with Kendra Eades in it?  
  
Disclaimer: the usual yadda yadda yadda, and the usual blah blah blah. :-P  
  
"We're not too late!" Dumbledore said firmly to the dwarves. "Somebody, get me one of the lime-green bottles from inside the cupboard. It's the color of Zaide's outfit."  
  
Zaide heeded Dumbledore's words and strode over to the closet. He went inside to the messy shelves and extracted a small lime-colored bottle.  
  
"I like limes. They are yummy," Quillan joked weakly. Nobody even cracked a smile. Zaide handed the bottle to Dumbledore.  
  
"Gareth, hold Kendra's head up for me," Dumbledore ordered. Gareth lifted Kendra's head and torso off the bench, and sat down. He rested Kendra's lower back on his lap. Dumbledore popped the cork out of the small bottle and forced Kendra's mouth open. Then he tipped the contents of the bottle into her mouth, and forced her to swallow. The effect was instantaneous. Some color came back into Kendra's face, and she began breathing again. Everyone sighed with relief. "She's not quite out of the woods yet," Dumbledore said grimly. "Just give me the jade-green bottle labeled AF and then we'll bring Kendra to the hospital wing," Dumbledore said. This Ximen did, and Dumbledore poured the contents of that bottle down Kendra's throat. "Now, I will conjure up a stretcher. You dwarves help to get Kendra on it. I guess we will have to talk about our proposal later." The four lifted the inert girl onto the stretcher Dumbledore made out of thin air. "Now, let's go down to Poppy."  
  
The five, plus Kendra, were a small, grim procession going down the corridors and stairs. Dumbledore studied Kendra's shins and left arm again. Her blood was congealing around the shards of glass. "She's lost a lot of blood, too," Gareth commented. "Do you really think the girl will make it?"  
  
"I'm confident that she will. She may even be able to hear us talking," said Dumbledore sharply. "Oh, here we are." They had arrived at the door of the hospital wing. Dumbledore knocked and Madam Pomfrey opened the door. "Oh my gawd, what happened?" Madam Pomfrey said.  
  
"Kendra Eades here has managed to escape from Lord Voldemort. She is very lucky indeed," Dumbledore informed her. "Now we just need to fix her up."  
  
"Is she a first year? I've never had this student in here before," Madam Pomfrey asked.  
  
"No, fifth. It's the 5th years who go to Merlin Haunted house, not the first," said Dumbledore.  
  
"Oh, dear. She actually got kidnapped in there? I thought that Merlin Haunted House was protected, though not as safe as Hogwarts," said Madam Pomfrey.  
  
"Voldemort somehow found a way for his Death Eaters to break through the enchantments. But you are correct about Hogwarts being safer," Dumbledore said. "I tend to doubt that he could break into here, at least for now."  
  
"All right, Headmaster, enough talk. Eades needs treatment, now!" Madam Pomfrey said. "Was this a magical fire she got burned by?"  
  
"I suspect that it was ashwinder eggs which ignited, so yes, it was indirectly from a magical fire," answered Dumbledore. "Now only that, but this glass... it has a curse on it so that it poisons anyone who gets cut by it. Fortunately, I have an antidote that neutralizes the poison. Kendra will need to have another draft this time tomorrow, and again at this time every day until she comes around."  
  
"That arm won't heal right away with that combination," said Madam Pomfrey anxiously. "It will be useless for a while."  
  
"You're right about that, but I believe that Kendra is right-handed. She will be able to do her schoolwork; she'll just have difficulty with carrying more than one or two books at a time. How long do you think it will take her arm to heal?"  
  
"I'd say about two weeks, three at most," said Madam Pomfrey. "Would you all kindly leave, so I can get to work on the girl?"  
  
"Indeed, Poppy," Dumbledore said. "Gareth, Ximen, Zaide, Quillan, come on."  
  
When the five had gotten a safe distance from the hospital wing, Gareth said, "That Madam Pomfrey isn't a very pleasant one, is she, Albus?"  
  
"I wouldn't say no to that, but she is one of the best healers around," Dumbledore said. "She rarely ever loses a patient of hers."  
  
"Ah, well, one can't have everything good, can they?" said Zaide. "Everyone has their faults, no matter how many or how few."  
  
"Quite right," said Dumbledore. "And now we need to go up to my office and chat about our ideas for a new, optional class for 4th years and up."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The next day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were eating breakfast. Nobody in the school was saying very much.  
  
"We should have been in Merlin Haunted House, shouldn't we, Harry?" Ron said. "If only things had been different, if yesterday hadn't happened..."  
  
Hermione threw her arms around Harry and Ron respectively, embarrassing them both greatly. "Oh, guys," she sobbed. "Poor Eloise! Poor Kendra!"  
  
"We were getting to be pretty good friends with her," said Harry. "What was she like, anyway? Why didn't we ever notice her?"  
  
"Well, Kendra tended to keep to herself. You know how she was talking to some of the other Hufflepuff girls? That was unusual behavior for her. She's really kind of a loner type. She's cool towards most people, most of the time. She's been getting more social, but I suspect she'll be even cooler towards everyone now. She may stay friends with us, though, if she lives, we've been through similar experiences," Hermione said.  
  
"Or maybe she'd prefer avoiding us because of that," said Ron. "Poor Kendra."  
  
Just then, Professor Dumbledore stood us at the staff table. "He might have an update on the news," Harry whispered. Everything grew quiet."  
  
"I have an update on yesterday's events. However, I won't tell you until lunchtime."  
  
"Oh, great, now we have to be in suspense until then," Ron whispered.  
  
"However, will Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger please come up to the staff table after breakfast is over?"  
  
There was a kind of rippling in the Great Hall as every head turned in the direction of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Apparently, they were about to find something out, something important. The trio heard a lot of whispers all about them now.  
  
After breakfast, Hermione, Ron, and Harry walked up to the staff table where Dumbledore was sitting. "I will take you three up to my office," said Dumbledore. "You are excused from your morning classes. I am going to have to tell you something. Now, follow me."  
  
Dumbledore and his three students walked in the direction of Dumbledore's office. They stopped in front of the stone gargoyle.  
  
"Chocolate Frogs!" Dumbledore said. The gargoyle moved aside to allow them to enter.  
  
Harry observed that four little men were sitting in the office. Each had an outfit of a different color on, and they all had long gray beards. The one in lime-green trousers, shirt, and hat stood up. "Hello, Dumbledore," he said. So you have brought the necessary students?"  
  
"I have," said Dumbledore. "This is Harry, this is Ron, and this is Hermione."  
  
"Harry Potter?" said the little man. His eyes raked Harry's face, and they performed the familiar linger on his scar. Harry nodded at him.  
  
"Right, then. I guess I should introduce you dwarves, too," said Dumbledore.  
  
"Okay, this one here in the green is Zaide. This little guy in the blue is Gareth. Ximen's in the orange, and Quillan's the one in the purple. Yes, I know they have very interesting names indeed. Now, let's get right down to business then. Sit, Harry, Hermione, Ron." They sat, feeling unaccountably nervous.  
  
"Let's get right to the point. Kendra Eades has been found," Dumbledore said.  
  
"Alive or dead?" Ron asked. The three student's dreaded Dumbledore's answer to the question.  
  
"She was found by these four," Dumbledore said, indicating the dwarves. "She was unconscious, but she was alive. She was badly injured, though."  
  
"You're talking about Kendra in the past tense. Is she dead?" Hermione squeaked. Her face was pale with fright."  
  
"I say that she was badly injured because she's been healed a bit. And yes, she is alive," said Dumbledore.  
  
"How did Kendra get injured? I know it was because of Voldemort, but what kind of injuries did Kendra get?" Harry asked. Ron and Hermione cringed at the mention of Voldemort's name.  
  
"She's been burned by a magical fire, and she's been cut by glass with poison on it. I strongly suspect that she was also hit by the Cruciatus Curse." Harry cringed. He still hadn't forgotten the unexplainable pain of the Cruciatus Curse. You had to be possessed by it to understand what it was like, but once you've been hit once, you never quite forget the pain. "I think she should come around in a couple of days. As we speak she is still out cold."  
  
"Is this the whole talk?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Not quite. My friends here are also going to be doing some talking. I didn't bring them here just for the sole fact that they found Kendra. They were on their way to see me when they literally stumbled over Kendra's body."  
  
"What did they want to talk about?" Harry asked.  
  
"Ah, I think I'll let them tell you, Mr. Potter," aid Dumbledore. "Zaide, you take it from here."  
  
"Okay," said Zaide, straightening his lime hat. "We were going to talk with Dumbledore about an idea for a new class. Remember the Dueling Club? Dumbledore told me about that." Ron, Hermione, and Harry nodded. "Well, this is similar to the Dueling Club, only this involves more than just the knowledge of spells. It also involves physical strength. It is training for battling against Lord Voldemort."  
  
Harry exchanged glances with Ron and Hermione. He had the feeling that if the dwarves went through with the class, the three of them would be among the first of the recruits.  
  
"Have any of you ever read the Lord of the Ring series?" the one in purple asked.  
  
"I did, er, Quentin?" Hermione said dubiously.  
  
"Quillan," Quillan corrected. "Now, J.R.R. Tolkien had mistakenly discovered hobbits. He didn't just make them up. He was a wizard. However, he just acted Muggle-like, pretending that he'd invented hobbits. That was a true story, only the names of all except Gandalf and Sauron, and some facts, were changed."  
  
"Wow," said Hermione. "So there really are beings who look like humans in every way except for strange ears and feet, and a short stature?"  
  
"Yes," said Quillan.  
  
"Anyway, this will be a battle against a Dark Lord. However, students will be trained heavily. This is an optional course. You will also have to practice it over your summer break. Battle is so dangerous that only those in your year and up can join. We'd prefer 6th and 7th years, but you four are special," said Zaide.  
  
"Excuse me, but did you just say us four? There are only three of us in the room," Harry said.  
  
"Is it true or not that Kendra Eades has been getting close to your group?" asked Dumbledore.  
  
"It's true," said Ron.  
  
"Do you think that she will want to do some battling against Lord Voldemort?" asked Quillan.  
  
Hermione thought for a moment. "She probably would, particularly after what happened yesterday."  
  
"Is she any good at athletics?" asked Zaide.  
  
"I think she's a sort of fast runner, but that's it. I'm not so hot at sports myself," said Hermione.  
  
"That is okay. As long as you are healthy, you can become good at using a sword and shooting arrows. Harry Potter, you've had some practice with swords, have you not?" asked Zaide.  
  
"I wouldn't exactly call it practice..." muttered Harry.  
  
"Well, you have some experience then," said Zaide. "You have all had practice with wizard's duels."  
  
"Was Kendra part of the Dueling Club?" Ron muttered. Harry and Hermione shrugged.  
  
"Well, she must have had some experience by now," said Quillan. "Facing the Dark Lord and everything."  
  
"Anyway, the students will practice with swords, and with bows and arrows," said Zaide.  
  
"That sounds incredibly Muggle-like, if you ask me," Ron muttered audibly.  
  
"Yes," Gareth said. "Disguises may be required, particularly to you, Harry Potter. These weapons won't be entirely Muggle-like, though. The swords will light up at certain instances, not unlike those in the books, and the arrows will be enchanted, o that death is caused much faster even if they strike a part such as an arm."  
  
"Are you definitely having this?" asked Ron.  
  
"Almost certainly," said Dumbledore. "If you dwarves are up to it."  
  
"Certainly," the one in the neon orange (Zorro? wondered Harry) said.  
  
"It's all settled, then," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling with a grim bravery.  
  
"Now," said the fourth dwarf, Gareth, "we think that you four should sign up for this class. Talk to Kendra about this when she wakes up, and see if she wants to join. We know that this didn't take up your whole class, but it will be up to Albus if you even have to go or not. Discuss this amongst yourselves in your free time. Albus, do these three need to go to their classes?"  
  
"You don't have to go to any of your morning classes, but you do need to go to your classes after lunch. Go up to the Gryffindor Common Room, and do whatever you wish to do. I'd prefer that you decide about the battling course, but if you don't want to, you don't have to," said Dumbledore.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Hurray! No Potions!" said Ron.  
  
Hermione rolled her brown eyes. "Don't start partying yet, we're going to have to make up the work we miss."  
  
"What WE miss? Kendra's going to have a lot of fun making up HER work when she wakes up," said Ron.  
  
"I was out like a light about 3 days at the end of first year, and I didn't have to make up anything," said Harry.  
  
"I'd like to point out two things to you," said Hermione. "One, you were a first year. First years get nothing compared to fifth years. Two, that was AFTER exams, so we didn't have any homework or class work."  
  
"Okay, okay, I get the point," said Harry, raising his eyebrows at Hermione.  
  
"The question is, do we want to join the battling class or not?" asked Ron. The three seated themselves in armchairs by the fire.  
  
"Of course. I think it is my duty to fight Voldemort. I'm obviously destined for it," said Harry.  
  
"Harry..." said Hermione. "You could end up dead or worse."  
  
Ron blinked. "Did you say dead or worse? Last I checked, dead is the worst one could be."  
  
"He could get his soul sucked out by a dementor. Isn't that worse than dead?" Hermione said.  
  
"You mean WE could. Because I'm joining the class too. I want to help Harry fight You-Know-Who," said Ron.  
  
"Ron, rule number 1 to battling Voldemort. Don't be afraid to speak his name," said Harry. "The same goes for you, Hermi."  
  
Hermione glared at Harry. "Don't call me Hermi! I'd prefer to be called by my proper name Hermione, thank you very much."  
  
"Okay, okay, keep your hair on," said Harry.  
  
Ron chuckled. "Fred and George say that all the time."  
  
"Do they?" I only heard them say that once," said Harry.  
  
"Guys, we're getting a little off-topic here," Hermione urged.  
  
"My mind's made up. I'm joining," said Harry.  
  
"Harry... just be careful, okay? Promise me you'll be careful. That goes double for you, too, Ron," said Hermione.  
  
"I take it you're not joining?" Harry inquired. Hermione shook her head.  
  
"Wow, that's the one class you haven't tried," Ron laughed. "I still can't believe you took Muggle Studies. You're Muggle-born! I mean, I've heard of Muggle-borns taking it as an easy class, but signing up for everything... wow."  
  
"So I'm into academics," said Hermione, glaring at Ron. "Just because you goof off all the time doesn't mean I have to! So I'm a little more the intellectual type than you are! Honestly."  
  
"Just watch us practicing then, Hermione," said Harry hastily. "We really shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves now."  
  
"Sorry, Hermione," said Ron. "Harry, want to play a game of wizard's chess?"  
  
"Sure," said Harry.  
  
Hermione sat and thoughtfully watched the boys play wizard's chess. The real reason Hermione didn't want to do the battling with swords and arrows was not just fear of pain and death, but fear of sticking up. Hermione didn't wish to be the only girl in the battling class. I think I'll talk to Kendra when she wakes up, said Hermione. If she joins, too, then I join. Hermione was pleased that she was friends with Kendra. Finally, a female friend that she could talk about certain subjects with. Harry and Ron were among Hermione's dearest friends, but there were subjects Hermione just couldn't talk with them about. Also, Harry and Ron talked about Quidditch a lot of the time. Hermione liked the talks where they could confide in each other. I'm such a guy's bud. Why can't Kendra be in Gryffindor? Hermione couldn't understand why Kendra had been put in Hufflepuff. She just didn't fit into the House's image at all. She wasn't the type who feared being blunt. She tended to be on the  
  
impatient side, too, from what Hermione had observed of her. True, Kendra hated being mean, but if she saw someone making fun of someone who wasn't fighting back... WHAM! Kendra turned into a fierce tiger.  
  
The boys played four or 5 fierce games of wizard's chess, and then it was time for lunch. Harry and Ron went to Dumbledore to say they they were in, but Hermione wasn't.  
  
"I'm glad you two want to join," said Dumbledore. "Now, we just need permission from your families. You are only 15. 17-year-olds can make their own choices about things like this, but you two are kind of young."  
  
Harry wasn't worried. He knew that the Dursleys would be only too happy that he was putting his life at serious risk. He wasn't so sure about Mr. and Mrs. Weasley for Ron, though.  
  
"Mum might not want me to do this, she'll say I'm too young," mused Ron. "I really hope she'll let me do this. I'm sure Dad will be okay with it, but I dunno about Mum."  
  
"I'm sure she'll realize that Voldemort could come after all of you whether you fight or not," said Harry. "Now, Hermione, I'll never understand her. Why is she so scared?"  
  
"I don't get it," said Ron. "She wasn't too scared when we were facing Sirius, before we knew he was innocent and all."  
  
"And what about second year, with the Polyjuice Potion?" added Harry.  
  
"And first year. She insisted on helping you to try and get the Stone," Ron put in.  
  
"Maybe her parents will definitely say no and she knows it. She's not a coward," suggested Harry.  
  
"Then why not say she's in and then her parents later say no so she doesn't look cowardly?" Ron mused.  
  
"Can we just drop this?" asked Harry. "I really don't like it when you two fight."  
  
"Sorry, Harry," said Ron.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Kendra was in a very strange place. Everything in her field of vision seemed to be changing colors. First everything was black, then red, then orange, then navy blue, then red again, then the color of oatmeal. The color seemed to get stuck on the color of oatmeal.  
  
Ick, I hate that color, thought Kendra. Why not navy blue? There's a color I like. I can't stand gray, Where the heck am I anyway?  
  
The fifteen-year-old lay still for a few minutes, staring into the oatmeal. Suddenly, a blurry shape passed in front of her. Kendra blinked a couple of times, and everything came into focus. Good, I was beginning to wonder if I needed glasses or something, thought Kendra. Suddenly, she noticed a dull ache in her left arm and her lower legs. Kendra struggled to sit up, but she fell onto her left side. A sharp pain shot through her arm. Kendra's face contorted with pain. She tried to move both arms. Her right one moved freely, but her left one was stuck in its position. Kendra rolled onto her right side and made herself sit up that way, with difficulty.  
  
Madam Pomfrey bustled over. "Oh, good, you're awake," she said. "Are you hungry or anything?"  
  
Kendra shook her head and glanced down at her arm. It was covered with bandages and bound up in a sling. 'Okay, that explains why I couldn't sit up the normal way.' "How are you feeling?" Madam Pomfrey asked.  
  
"Fine," Kendra lied. In truth, she felt exhausted.  
  
"I'm gonna go get Professor Dumbledore. He told me to tell him when you wake up."  
  
"Okay..." Kendra said. "Can Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit?"  
  
"Absolutely not. Just Dumbledore, he's the headmaster."  
  
"But I tend to feel better when I'm with my best friends," said Kendra.  
  
"Kendra, you need rest. You've been through a terrifying ordeal." Madam Pomfrey turned to leave the hospital wing. Kendra rolled her eyes and glared very hard at Madam Pomfrey's back. Then she sighed and leaned back against her pillows, feeling very sorry for herself. She began to be tormented by flashbacks to the previous day, as she thought it had been.  
  
Half an hour later, Madam Pomfrey returned with Dumbledore. "I'd like to speak to Kendra alone, and I'd like to have Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger with us, too," said Dumbledore. Kendra flashed the headmaster a grateful smile. "Go fetch them from their Transfiguration class." Madam Pomfrey gaped with outrage, but she obeyed Dumbledore, leaving him and Kendra alone together.  
  
"How are you feeling, Miss Eades?" Professor Dumbledore asked kindly.  
  
"I feel perfectly fine," Kendra said, forcing a smile.  
  
"Now, now, Kendra. There's no need to lie. I wouldn't act any different if you said that you felt like you've been run over by the world's largest truck and then locked inside an oven for an hour."  
  
Kendra laughed. That was a little similar to how she felt. "Actually, my arm hurts a bit," she said.  
  
"See, these things can be helped," Dumbledore said. He dropped a tablet of something into a glass of water and gave it to Kendra. She downed the drink and her pain vanished. Minutes later, Madam Pomfrey returned with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Kendra waved with her good arm.  
  
"Kendra!" Hermione squealed. She dashed over to the bed and hugged Kendra. "How are you feeling? Are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fine now," said Kendra.  
  
"No you are not!" said Ron. "You don't exactly have two arms now."  
  
Kendra laughed. "I'm not one-armed! See, there's this arm," she waved her good arm, "and that arm." She pointed to the arm in the sling.  
  
"I mean two usable arms," Ron amended.  
  
"I can use this in, how long, professor?"  
  
"About two or three weeks," said Dumbledore.  
  
"Okay," said Kendra. She smirked at Ron. "I'll be as good as new in 3 weeks." She grinned again.  
  
"Wow... you seem awfully cheerful," Harry said.  
  
Kendra shrugged. "What can I say? It's great to be alive. Though I'm not exactly 1000 percent cheerful. Or even 100%."  
  
"I was getting a little worried for a moment there," said Harry. "You're certainly good at covering up your feelings."  
  
"Not really. Voldemort could tell I was scared," Kendra argued vehemently.  
  
"Well, nobody, but nobody, can cover up that sort of feeling. I've known that for ages, and now you know it, too," said Harry.  
  
"Yeah... I guess I do," said Kendra. "I guess I'll talk to you guys later about what happened. Or now."  
  
"So what happened? I'll ask Harry, Ron, and Hermione to leave if you wish," said Dumbledore.  
  
"No. I want them to stay," said Kendra firmly. "Anyway, where do you want me to start? When I was taken or when I first saw Voldemort?"  
  
Dumbledore answered, "The former. When you were taken."  
  
"Oh-kay," Kendra said. She took a deep breath to calm herself and then began to speak. "Okay. Anyway, one of them held me, and he must have Apparated or something carrying me. We were swirling very fast. So that was what it feels like to Apparate. Okay, when the spinning stopped, I was in a shack or something filled with Death Eaters in those horrid outfits there. I gave them numbers to try to amuse myself, but it didn't work. I did smile a little, because one of the Death Eaters got pi-, er, ticked off, sorry, Professor. He asked me what I was smirking at and lifted the Body Bind. So anyway, the one who asked me that shook me hard, and another pulled my hair." Kendra ran her hand through her now-loose hair and continued. "Then Peter Pettigrew, as Harry had described his voice, spoke. I thought he was dead, and was surprised when Harry told me he wasn't. A later conversation between Death Eaters confirmed that Pettigrew was alive. Anyway, a Death Eater asked me if I wanted to speak to Voldemort." Ron blenched at the name. "I said no comment, and the one who had asked me slapped me. Then he ordered for me to be tied up. They tied me to a pole. I couldn't move. I wasn't gagged because we were far from any civilization. Then Voldemort came. He tried to coax me to cross over to the Dark Side. I made it pretty clear that there was no way I'd follow in my Uncle Davus's footsteps. I also said that I was an Eades, NOT a Nott. Hey, not a Nott. Interesting. Anyway, he then put the Imperius Curse on me. I fought it off. Then Voldemort used the Cruciatus Curse on me." Harry cringed, remembering his own latest ordeal. He lifted it and again asked if I'd join. I said no again, and he repeated the Cruciatus Curse. He lifted it and tried to say I'd be a disgrace to my family if I didn't join him. I didn't buy that. He used the Cruciatus Curse a third time, and I finally passed out or something." Harry winced. That was more than he'd been hit with the curse.  
  
"Then what happened? Harry asked. "How did you get burned and that stuff?"  
  
Kendra sighed. "Allow me to continue. So anyway, when I woke up again, I found myself in a dark, dark room. I walked smack into a wall, and then started feeling my way around. I found a boarded window and a locked door. They were discussing whether to kill me straight-out, or just leave me, and how to kill me." Kendra shuddered. "They talked about students in our year related to Death Eaters. They mentioned a magical fire they had going, and they said they'd leave me. They mentioned a box, which was full of Portkeys. Guess what the Portkeys were?"  
  
"What?" asked Hermione, who had been kind of quiet.  
  
"Dead skunks," said Kendra dramatically. "I said I wouldn't use them, but then they were the only way back."  
  
"How did you get out of the building?" asked Hermione.  
  
"All in good time. Voldemort said to leave the fire burning, and everyone Disapparated. I tried to find a way out, but I couldn't. I tried to break the board with my feet, but I couldn't. I'd have done better if I hadn't quit karate as a yellow belt. I didn't smell smoke right away. I guess it was an Ashwinder. What seems like ages later, I finally smelled smoke. I saw an orange glow under the door. That was when I really freaked out. I felt the door, and it was hot. I remembered Muggle grammar school, before I came here, and all those fire-prevention lessons. Then I remembered the raccoons or skunks or whatever they were. Suddenly, the fire burned through the door. It fell off its hinges. The boarded window was illuminated. I was trapped.  
  
"How did you ever get out? Who rescued you?" asked Ron.  
  
"It was an amazing stroke of luck," said Kendra. "Suddenly, I saw something lying in the corner nearest the fire, about to be lit. It was a long piece of wood. I realized it was a wand, and it was about to you know, go on fire. I felt a little dizzy from the smoke and ash. Suddenly, the wand caught fire. I ran over there and picked it up, trying to put out the flames with my hands. After I got them out, I used the Reductor Curse on the board. Too bad it didn't work on the glass, because I was coughing too hard by then. My left arm caught fire. I managed to break the window with my foot and left fist, and I dived out. I landed on my knees on the glass. I ran away from the shack, and the flames climbed to my shoulder. I stopped, dropped, and rolled. I was going to give up hope, but then I remembered my family and friends. That gave me strength. I took a Portkey to Hogwarts, some sort of road kill, and I landed at the edge of the forest. I tried to walk to Hogwarts, and then  
  
fainted. That is the last thing I remember."  
  
"Wow, what an amazing escape artist you are, Kendra!" said Ron.  
  
Kendra laughed. "It was my best escape ever."  
  
"I have something else to talk to you about," said Dumbledore. "It's a new class. Harry and Ron are signing up, but Hermione is reluctant. It's a sort of battling class. It is optional, and you need your parents' permission. It's where you and others get trained to fight Voldemort. It won't just be Hogwarts students. There will also be hobbits."  
  
Kendra blinked with surprise. "Hobbits? I thought they were something JKL Turner or whatever his name is made up."  
  
"No," said Dumbledore. "They exist."  
  
"Wow, I guess I should expect anything to exist," said Kendra.  
  
"Including people with at least 3 arms." Ron chortled.  
  
"So let me get this straight," said Kendra. There really are people who are from two to four feet tall, who don't need shoes? That tend to be fat, and have curly brown hair?"  
  
"Yes," said Dumbledore.  
  
Ron grinned a little. "Hey, Kendra, you sort of look like a hobbit. You have the hair, and stuff."  
  
Kendra glared. "Gee, thank you soooooo much. That is soooooo sweet of you," she said sarcastically.  
  
"You're welcome," Ron teased. Kendra stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
"So, Kendra, will you want to join the battling class?"  
  
Kendra shrugged. "I don't know. I'll have to think about it."  
  
  
  
Author's note: This is the final chapter of Merlin Haunted House! I edited all of the chapters, changing Rebecca Fawcett's house from Ravenclaw to Slytherin, and changing Tina Nott's name to Antonia Nott, and moving her from Slytherin to Ravenclaw.. If anyone notices a spot where I put "Tina" instead of "Toni" or "Antonia", or if I called Rebecca a Ravenclaw and Toni a Slytherin, please tell me in a review! I'm currently working on a sequel to "Merlin Haunted House". The sequel is going to be titled "Aftermath." Cheers, Tricia 


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